Of Sparks and Swords
by Reptile Princess
Summary: "They say that when sparks fly between two people, there's something special they share. They say that if at first you can't stand someone, that's how the best relationships start." A collection of oneshots, drabbles, and songfics about Jason and Reyna.
1. A Spark

Her mother was Bellona. Reyna was an expert in war and swords. His father was Jupiter. So of course Jason was an expert when it came to electricity and sparks.

"Rarely out of the deepest hate comes the deepest love, and out of the smallest sparks burns the brightest fire."

When Reyna first sees him with his golden blonde hair and slightly tanned skin as he strolls through the streets, she doesn't think anything of him. Yet her stomach still twists into a knot and she looks away in disgust. She feels like this around a lot of males. Reyna was taught that men are pigs and will use you. They will do bad things to you, things you do not approve of, and things you do not want to be done to you. This belief didn't weaken when Reyna was captured by pirates, or when Circe's island exploded.

She hears that his name is Jason Grace (she could honestly care less about his name), and that he is a son of Jupiter. Her immediate dislike of him grows more and more because Reyna figures he is probably just like his father, a player. He has the looks for it, that's for sure.

He tries to talk to her, and Reyna ignores him with ease. What she doesn't know is that this is one of the things that draws him in, when she ignores him. Like a firefly attracts a child. The thought that Jason finds himself wanting to know everything he can about the daughter of Bellona with a mysterious past doesn't even cross her mind.

And Reyna doesn't _let_ him find out about her past. She tries to forget about it herself. She stays guarded, and Reyna figures that is the way she'll always be when she's around him.

Jason is kind to her. _Too kind_, she thinks, and suspects it to be some type of trick or something of the sort. Reyna doesn't trust him, and tries to understand why he's always so nice to her. Sadly, she can't.

Reyna begins to tolerate him, letting him hang out with her. She usually sword fights with him, and when she wins she imagines in her mind that if this were war, she would have killed him, and this thought makes her sort of happy. When he wins, it's usually by cheating. Using electricity against her so when their swords clash it travels through her knife and up her arm, causing her to drop it in pain and for him to win. But, Reyna always gets back at him. Usually by seeing if he's quick enough to dodge her knife as she throws it at his back.

Whenever Jason tries to create small talk, she says something rude to him, and most of the time he backs off. This goes on for a few months. Then he does something she doesn't expect as they sit in the long green grass on a warm summer day. He opens up to her. She pretends to not care, even though in reality she's interested.

He says there are rumors that she has a sister, who supposedly joined the Amazons. Jason tells her that he has a sister as well. Or had. He doesn't know what became of her.

So, Jason tells her his story. How his sister was like a mother to him. He just remembers her happy electric blue eyes and her pretty smile. That's all. Then, how he would dream of her. But only rarely. Jason speaks of when he _did_ dream of her, the visions seemed blurred for some reason. He hasn't had a dream of his sister in eight years.

Jason looks down sadly and whispers to Reyna he knows exactly what it feels like to lose a sister. She feels so bad for him that she reaches out for his hand. When they touch, Jason's hand flinches, and a current of electricity travels from his hand through her whole body. It isn't a good feeling. The shock hurts, her ears pop, and her hair stands up like it does when you rub a balloon against it. Jason apologizes quickly. Reyna's still a little shaken from the shock to forgive him just yet.

Reyna's original impenetrable belief that all men are swine and should be treated as such, begins to weaken little by little the more time she spends with him. She realizes that maybe there is much more to Jason Grace than meets the eye.


	2. Stars and Constellations

**Thank you so much for taking your time to review. It means a lot to me! **

**I feel bad for this couple, because I just have a feeling Jason will end up with Piper. I think I'm also the only Jeyna fan that doesn't support Leo/Piper. Because the whole Aphrodite/Hephaestus thing was already done with Charlie and Silena. I think it'll end up like this: Percabeth (obviously), Frazel, Jasper, and either Leyna or both of them with different people. Or Reyna could join the Hunters of Artemis. That's also an option. Okay, I'm done with my thoughts on the numerous love triangles in the PJO universe.**

Jason has to admit the night sky is spectacular. As if his dad is brightening the stars just for him. Jason shivers slightly from the cold.

Still, the stars were bright and glistening against the black sky. The Milky Way was breathtaking, with hundreds of clusters of tiny stars grouped together. The night air smells refreshing. Cool and clean.

"It's beautiful." Reyna breathes. He can just make out the outline of her face from the light of the stars. They're in the middle of the Field of Mars. The grass is wet from the dew, so they had decided to stand instead of sit.

"I know. I haven't seen the sky look so magical in a really long time." Jason mutters, transfixed by the stars.

"I wish I could just fly into them." Reyna whispers. The stables were closed, so she couldn't ride Scipio until tomorrow.

Jason looks at her, suddenly serious, "You trust me, right?"

He finds himself looking deep into her startling dark eyes that look like they are as black as the sky itself.

"You know the answer, Jason." Reyna replies.

Jason nods and closes his eyes. He concentrates on the wind slowly rustling through the grass. He feels the pattern of the cool air currents bending, shifting, and turning sharp corners. He becomes aware of the wind very slightly brushing his face. Jason wills the air currents to bend around him, and lift him off of the ground. It's hard at first to control the air, like trying to balance on top of an excercise ball. It gets easier the more he focuses. When he opens his eyes, he is up a few feet higher than Reyna. She looks at him in slight awe.

Jason reaches his hand out to her, which she takes. He feels like Peter Pan carrying Wendy off to Neverland. She grasps onto his hand for dear life as they rise into the air. Jason winces because she is hurting his hand with her iron grip. When Reyna's scared she doesn't talk much. She also doesn't show it on her face. Which is one of the things that he loves about her.

"Reyna. You can calm down. I won't let you fall. And if you do, I'll catch you." Jason says hollowly, pain eminent in his voice.

"S-Sorry." Reyna says.

Her expression is hard and blank for a few seconds. She begins to relax a little as Jason tells the air to carry them higher. She releases her tightened grip and moves her hands to Jason's shoulders. She wraps her arms around his neck. He blushes as he puts his hands on her waist and pulls her closer. Don't get the wrong idea, he's just trying to make sure that she doesn't fall. Reyna and him are _just_ friends. Not like he's trying to bust a move or anything.

Reyna breathes out slowly, her breath turning foggy in the cold air and smiles as she looks around her. She laughs softly.

"This is... incredible." She says exhilaratingly.

Jason smiles. _Watch this._ He thinks.

Jason rises faster and higher into the cold night sky. Reyna tightens her grip on his shoulders as her black hair whips around her face, her eyes wide open.

They slow to a stop and for a moment Jason can't breathe. Not in fear, or because they are up too high in the atmosphere, but in awe. It looks like the stars are hundreds of tiny sparkles. Jason glances down. He sees all of Camp Jupiter and part of New Rome. Their lights glittering below them. Reyna looks around her in fascination.

Stars surround them and twinkle above their heads.

"What one's your favorite?" Reyna asks, referring to the constellations around them.

"Hercules."

With a smile, Reyna scoffs and rolls her eyes.

Jason frowns,"What?"

"You. It's typical. Of course you like Hercules."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know Grace! Maybe the fact that he stole the belt of the Amazons and killed their Queen?"

"That was Juno's fault! She spread lies that he was going to attack them!"

"Typical boy, blaming the women."

"Typical girl, blaming it on the men."

Reyns growls in frustration and smacks her head against his shoulder in anger.

"What about you?" Jason asks after a moment of silence.

"What _about_ me?" She muffles into his jacket.

"What's your favorite constellation?"

Reyna blinks and lifts her head up to look at the stars. It's so quiet that you can hear the wind whistling past their ears.

"The girl with the bow and arrow. The Huntress. It's so mysterious. The only constellation that doesn't have a story to it that I know of."

"I like that one, too. It just appeared one night. Maybe it was a demigod or something that the gods liked a lot."

"Yeah." Reyna says quietly.

"What's wrong?" Jason asks, tilting her chin up to look at him. She smiles at Jason. His heart beats uneasily.

"Nothing. It's just... What would it be like to be made into a constellation? Is your soul in the stars and are you forced to look down on Earth forever?" Reyna asks.

"I don't know. I'm sure it's amazing, though. Maybe you're eternally happy or something. Only the gods know, I guess."

Reyna smiles,"Thank you for this, Jason."

"You're welcome, Reyna." Jason smiles. She hugs him and Jason hugs her back, trying not to think of how nicely her arms fit around him, or how warm she is despite the cold air surrounding them, or even how her midnight black hair smells like vanilla.

He wants to stay this way forever, frozen in time like the constellations. Eternally having this feeling of peace and happiness, and being a part of the sky.


	3. Breakable

Reyna plunges her hands into the soapy mass then she starts to scrub the plate she pulls out of the hot dishwater. She's been so busy running Camp Jupiter lately she hasn't had time to do her dishes.

She has heard that when people get tourchured, they reach a point when they can't stand it anymore. A breaking point. Reyna thinks she's getting close to reaching hers, and hopes that she'll feel better once she reaches that it.

She doesn't just miss Jason. She _needs_ him. She needs him to help her run Camp Jupiter. She needs her other praetor by her side, because she feels lost without him. Reyna hasn't felt this alone since she parted ways with her sister.

Sometimes, she dreams about him. But, the dream is almost blurred, like she isn't supposed to know where Jason is. It's not fair, though. For him to somehow disappear off the face of the earth and leave her and the camp alone. Reyna can't do this without him. Can't run the camp alone. There's too much pressure. People look at her whenever there's a problem. They expect her to answer all of their questions. They expect her to run Camp perfectly fine without any help. They expect her to be unbreakable. She has to give them that, though. She hates the act she has to play for them. Pretending everything's fine when it isn't. She tries to keep things normal for the other campers. But it's so hard. They expect far too much of her. She's only one person.

"You're supposed to be my saving grace."

Tears blur her vision. Her throat constricts. Reyna looks at the dish in her hand and throws it as hard as she can against the wall. It shatters, and breaks against it. Rage begins to course through her, as tears stream down her face and her nose starts to run. Her hand dives in to grab another dish, and she throws it across the room.

Before she knows it, she's grabbing at anything breakable she can find and slamming it on the floor or throwing it across the kitchen.

She damns the gods. Curses them. Thunder rumbles so loud outside the house quakes.

"BRING HIM BACK YOU SELFISH INCESTUAL BASTARDS! You never think of _anyone_ but you and about what makes _you_ happy! You just look at mortals and demigods and only think about you! You use women and men to fulfill your sexual urges! If someone insults you _once_ you blast them to smithereens! Or plague them or set a curse on them! You're all so damn selfish! Every single last one of you! Well I am right here! I insulted you! So blast me all you want! Do it, I dare you! DO IT!" Reyna screams at the ceiling.

She should be afraid. She should be terrified, and give a sacrifice to every god so hopefully they wouldn't make her life that horrible.

Instead, she hyperventilates in order to stop crying, but this only makes her cry harder. She slowly sinks to the floor, where pieces of glass stab her skin. The pain of the glass is almost bearable when compared to the pain that seems to stab her chest.

Reyna, for the first time, feels broken and helpless, like the many dishes that are shattered and dispersed across her floor.


	4. Equestrians

**Thank you for all of your awesome reviews! I love 'em! And thanks to everyone who alerted or favorited! You guys are amazing. G****ratias! G****ratias! G****ratias! (Thanks in Latin) **

**Disclaimer: Do I sound like I would be someone connected to Rick Riordan or somehow affiliated with the ownership of Heroes of Olympus? Yeah, I don't think so either.**

Jason stands in the doorway of the stables. Golden orange light from the sun, which is close to setting, brightens the place, making it seem to glow softly. To any mortal farmer, it would seem a nice place to be. Cozy and clean.

He doesn't go in, though. Jason has a mild distaste when it comes to horses The stables smells bad to him. Like hay and dust and animal fur. Oddly, it's never cold inside the stables. He guesses it's probably all the hot gas from the stupid horses farting all the time.

Okay, fine. Maybe it's possible he doesn't go in because he doesn't trust horses. He doesn't exactly know where his dislike of them comes from. Jason thinks it's because Neptune created them. Besides, Neptune and Jupiter don't exactly have the best of relationships. He even sometimes kills Romans in his domain when they try to cross the sea.

"What is it you want, Jason? Come on in, he won't bite." Reyna says teasingly.

She's brushing Scipio, who snorts, as if acknowleging Jason's prescence. Scipio is a present from Reyna's sister Hylla who once joked that if Reyna ever became praetor, she'd send her the best pegasus that the Amazons had to offer. Well, she did become praetor, and got a pegasus.

Skippy and him are on good terms. He likes pegasi. They make him feel safe, and he knows that he can trust them.

Jason walks hesitantly into the stables and towards Reyna. He can almost feel the horses and unicorns staring at him.

He feels safer the closer he is to Reyna. She smiles,"You still don't like horses, do you?"

"Not really."

"So, the great praetor Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, slayer of the Titan Krios, is afraid of a pony."

"No, I'm not Reyna! That's stupid! What person is scared of horses?"

"I don't know. Minerva children maybe, you..."

Jason scoffs and rolls his eyes as he sarcastically says,"Yeah I'm afraid of horses."

"Okay fine. So you're not afraid of them, but why do you hate them so much? I mean, sure. Most Romans, including me, don't like riding when it comes to horses, but we don't hate them."

"I just don't care for them. I don't _hate_ them. They're untrustworthy on both ends and... crafty in the middle, and- hey, maybe I don't like the feeling of something I can't control bouncing between my legs."

Reyna laughs. Jason loves her laugh. When she laughs, it makes Jason want to laugh as well.

"Fine. Go over to that horse and feed it a sugar cube." Reyna dares cockily, handing him a white square object.

"Fine." Jason replies, grabbing the sugar cube and walking up to the nearest horse.

He walks up to it and clicks his tounge. The chestnut colored horse snorts and glares at him with sharp black eyes. Jason reaches his hand through the wooden pen's wide bars, and holds out his cupped hand. The horse looks at him, acting skittish, then attempts to bite him. Jason jerks back.

"It almost bit my hand off, Reyna!"

"Did you hold your hand out flat?"

"You didnt tell me that!"

"I thought you knew, Jason." Reyna says, smirking.

She puts the brush down and walks to him. She takes the hand that has the sugar cube in it in hers, and smooths his hand out so it's flat.

"Here." She says softly, placing her hand underneath his flat one. Jason locks eyes with her for reassurance, but she only smiles back gently. Their hands move through the bars, and Jason forces himself to not jerk his hand back. Jason can feel the horse's hot breath on his hand. It's lips move over his hand and, to Jason's surprise, it doesn't bite him, and eats the sugarcube.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it Jason?"

He looks at Reyna, amusement glittering in her eyes. She tries to hide a smile.

Jason's infuriated,"You're laughing at me."

"No, Jason I'm not! Really, I'm not. Come on, do you want to go for a ride with me before evening muster?"

Reyna unties Skippy and walks him toward the entrance of the stables. Jason can tell she changed the subject on purpose. He's still mad at her, and wants to say no just to prove a point to her.

But, the offer to ride a pegasus into the almost setting sun with the wind blowing through Jason's hair and his arms wrapped tightly around Reyna's waist didn't seem like a bad way to end the day. So, Jason tries his best to act annoyed and upset with her as she takes his hand and hoists him onto the back of the pegasus, who begins to gallop, then takes off and soars towards the heavens.


	5. Serenity

Reyna closes her eyes and lets the sun shine on her face as she lies on the slope of Temple Hill. The green grass makes her arms itch, but she ignores it.

It's such a beautiful day, even if it's hot outside. Everything just seems enhanced. The clouds are big and puffy against a bright blue sky, the hills are green and beautiful, and the camp seems to glow in the sunlight.

Behind her lids, it grows darker. Like something is blocking the sun.

She opens her eyes slowly. Jason's face is upside down, inches away from hers. She screams in surprise and sits up, her forehead knocking against Jason's chin.

"Ow!" Jason exclaims.

Reyna rubs her head and mutters cuss words in Latin.

"What do you want, Jason?"

"To get your attention. And I did, didn't I?"

Jason slides down next to her on the hill. Reyna rolls her eyes at him,"Yeah, I guess you did."

They sit propped up on their elbows, watching demigods in the distance dropping from high flying eagles, then rolling when they hit the ground.

"Nice day." Jason acknowledges.

"Too bad it has to end." Reyna responds.

She lies down in the grass again. Jason lies down with her.

Reyna has to admit, he's sort of making her a little uncomfortable. Being this close to her.

Jason's shoulder and arm is pressed against hers. They're practically holding hands. Reyna's first instinct is to pull away, to get up and leave. She's never had a boy be this close to her. Even though she'd been taught for a major portion of her life not to trust boys, Reyna knows now that she can. She trusts Jason more than anyone, almost as much as she trusts her sister.

But Reyna doesn't move. She's too comfortable, and feels too safe to move. Reyna steals a glance at him, half expecting him to be staring back at her, but instead he's watching the skies.

"Rose."

"What?"

"That big cloud looks like a rose. See it?"

Jason points to a cloud in the distance. It takes Reyna a while, but it does sort of look like a rose.

"The one next to it looks like a sheep." Reyna says, smiling.

"Or the big, fluffy head of a lion."

They laugh, and spend the rest of the day laying side by side, watching clouds drift past, seeing different things in them, and trying to see them from each other's perspective.

Much later in the day, Jason falls asleep and Reyna does, too. It's so calm and peaceful that it's hard not to.

Jason wakes up first, and gently shakes her awake so they won't be late for evening muster. Reyna blinks a few times, then gets up, reminding herself that all good things must come to an end. But, that also all bad things come to an end, too.

"Race you." Jason says.

"Okay. On three?"

"One. Two. Three!"

Reyna shoves Jason down and runs past him as fast as she can, laughing as she does so. 


	6. Nightmares and Promises

**Feel free to put on a sad song. Have you ever listened to music and read at the same time? It's kind of like watching a movie, but it's hard because you have to balance the song with the book and then you get lost in the book but forget about the song. It's really cool, though. **

**Please review. It only takes about five seconds. Even a single word is good enough for me. **

Jason blinks a few times, not wanting to get out of the warm bed. He looks at the clock. Eleven forty five. He closes his eyes again. The knocking continues and Jason sighs, throwing his covers off and making his way sleepily to the door. He opens it slowly.

"Yeah?" He mutters, rubbing his eyes. He blinks and sees that it's Reyna. Her hair is in a loose braid and she's wearing red and black flannel pants and a maroon tank top. He quickly looks down realizes that he's only wearing gray boxers. Reyna's glancing at the ground and has a slight flush to her cheeks.

"Oh uh... I'm gonna uh... I'll be right back." Jason stammers, slamming the door. He curses and feels his face grow warm as he runs to his room and throws on black sweatpants and his camp shirt. Jason then realizes he very rudely slammed the door in Reyna's face without thinking.

He opens the door again and apologizes.

"It's okay." Reyna says. He invites her inside and Reyna steps across the threshold.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Jason asks, closing the door.

"No." Reyna says. She takes a seat on a stool at the counter.

"What's wrong?" Jason asks.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I've just been having dreams."

"About?" Jason prompted, slightly impatient.

Reyna takes a deep breath before she speaks,"You."

Jason pauses and there is a moment of awkwardness. He can think of about five different types of dreams she could be having about him, some of which were not appropriate.

His voice seems strained when he speaks.

"What about me?"

"I've been having these dreams for a few days now, but this time it felt so real. In my dreams you're gone-"

"Like... Dead?"

"No, just lost. I search and search but can't find you anywhere. It's like you disappeared off the face of the earth. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're my best friend. We're supposed to be partners. You're the kind, fair praetor and I'm the strict, tactical one. We're supposed to balance each other out. But, I can't do everything all by myself," Reyna's voice starts to shake and her voice raises to a higher pitch, like someone who's trying to speak while crying. _Oh my gods is she tearing up? _Jason wonders, his heart sinking and melting at the same time_._ "I n-_need_ you, Jason. More than you know. When you're not by my side I just feel s-so alone. Please don't leave me, a-at least without knowing that... that I-" Reyna's voice breaks.

Jason feels so bad for Reyna, and he knows that demigod dreams usually aren't normal dreams. Sometimes they're premonitions...

He suddenly begins to worry and feel like crying all at the same time. This combination causes a feeling of panic to overtake him and a numb feeling to settle in his limbs. Jason doesn't want to be lost. His home is here, and no one can take that away from him.

"Shhh. Hey, don't cry." Jason says as gently as he can. He reaches across the counter and takes her hand. He doesn't like seeing her in pain, or being upset. She's usually so blank and unreadable, that when she cries Jason knows something really bad happened.

She looks at him with slightly watery eyes. Reyna who probably cries a lot less than normal girls do, takes his hand and presses it to her cheek. For a moment, Jason forgets how to breathe.

Jason wants to kiss her to just help her forget everything for a moment or two. It'd be easy. All he had to do was lean across the counter, and tangle his free hand in her hair, then force his lips on hers.

No. There was a reason they haven't taken their relationship further. It'd be too distracting, they wouldn't be able to work together as good as they do now, because they'll probably be wanting to do other things than running the camp. Praetors are meant to lead armies, train demigods, and try their best to make the _right_ decisions. They are supposed to be leading. Not falling in love and making out instead of staying on task.

Reyna slowly releases his hand and averts her gaze. She looks everywhere but him. She blinks a few times

"Sorry about... I feel stupid for coming here and waking you up and... I'm just going to go. I'm so sorry, Jason." Reyna says, her voice still shaking, when she quickly gets up to leave. In an instant Jason's by her side.

"No. Wait Reyna, don't go," Jason says, then his voice drops to a whisper. "You know you can be yourself around me. I don't care that you woke me up. I'm glad you did. I'm here for you, and you know that. You can always come talk to me. I'm a good listener. If there's something you need, just tell me."

Reyna's eyes are still glassy from tears. Her lower lip quivers. She whispers with a quaking voice,"Hold me?"

Jason feels like crying himself. _Please don't cry, Reyna. You're going to make me cry._ He wishes so badly that he can just steal her pain away. He wraps his arms protectively around her and holds her close to his body. Reyna clings to him. Her arms are wrapped around him, her hands gripping the back of his shirt.

She's shaking, and he can't tell whether it's from fear or sadness. Her warm lips accidently press against his neck as she makes a sound like she's trying to hold in a sob. A shock of electricity jolts up Jason's back when her lips touch his skin. Reyna sniffles and leans her head on his shoulder. He wraps his arms tighter around her, trying to hold her together. She cries silently, her wet cheeks brushing against his skin.

Jason's heart sinks faster than a lightning struck eagle plummeting from the sky. His throat collapses in on him and his chest tightens, like it does when you're about to cry. He becomes partially blind when tears begin to form in his eyes. He blinks them away the best he can, but they're still there, clouding his vision.

"You can stay here tonight, if you want. You can sleep on the couch." Jason implies.

"Can't. I should go back to my house." She mumbles.

"You don't have to." Jason almost pleads.

"Yes I do." Reyna lies.

She pulls herself away from him, wisps of her hair are stuck to his shoulder and chest from static electricity, probably from the jolt that ran up his back. Reyna turns her back on him, but Jason puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Reyna, what are you not telling me?"

He can feel that she's not just crying because of him. It's because of something that's bigger than either of them.

"I've already said everything I had to say." Reyna whispers. She walks around him, and goes to sit on the couch in the living room.

Jason follows her and sits next to her. She's lying, Jason can tell that much. Even though Reyna is the best liar he knows, they'd been best friends for almost four years. When you're so close to someone for that long, you begin to know them almost as much as they know themselves.

"I wish I could tell you, Jason. But, I can't. I swore on the River Styx not to say anything."

Tears begin to stream down Reyna's face again. Jason tries his best not to show worry as he takes her in his arms again. He, trying not to cry or muse on what she swore not to say.

Eventually, her tears flow less, and her breathing becomes steadier. Jason looks at her, and when he's sure she's almost asleep, he lays her down on the couch. He grabs the blanket folded above it down, and throws it across Reyna's sleeping figure.

She reaches out and grabs his wrist, half awake.

"Donb leeve me aone," She mutters. Jason wonders if she's talking jibberish in her sleep, so he says okay. "Swayer"

"What?"

"Swayer."

"Swayer... Swear? Oh. Okay, okay. I swear, Reyna. I swear."

Jason touches her cheek, then goes to the laundry room where he keeps a few extra blankets. He pulls one out and goes back into the living room, laying down on the floor next to the couch, using the pillow from a nearby chair. He holds her hand as he drifts off, a silent gesture saying that he'll always be by her side.

Sadly promises, like hopes and dreams, are easily broken.


	7. Dancing in the Rain

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I blame a minor case of writer's block and homework.**

Reyna picks up her pace in as she walks past the cohorts, looking for Jason. She glances up at the sky and sees the dark gray clouds overhead. She used to hate the rain, but now she doesn't mind it as much. And it's certainly not because it reminds her of a certain son of Jupiter.

She searches the _principia_, the sword fighting and sparring classes, but her fellow praetor is still nowhere to be seen. She glances up at Temple Hill, and runs towards it with the cold wind slapping her in the face.

* * *

><p>Reyna finds Jason at his father's temple. For once, Octavian isn't around. He's probably stalking people or maybe he's buying himself some more "friends".<p>

"Twenty five, twenty four, twenty three, twenty two..." Jason mumbles. He's sitting on the grand temple steps, looking up at the sky. Reyna plops down next to him.

She watches him for a while as he counts. His sky blue eyes seem to be reflecting the crowd of slate colored clouds overhead. Reyna wants to ask what he's doing, but she also doesn't want to distract him.

"Three, two... one." Jason closes his eyes.

Immediately it starts to rain gently, a few drops of water appearing on the ground. Then it starts to rain harder. Soon, it's pouring rain, but neither Reyna or Jason gets wet.

It takes her a second to realize that it wasn't Jason that caused the rain to start. But, he could predict exactly when it would rain, and probably how hard it would rain, too. Maybe because of the moisture in the air.

One of Jason's abilities is that he doesn't get wet in the rain, or when he's in any other type of precipitation. The only way Jason can be affected by precipitation is if he wants to get wet, or if he's concentrating hard on something else, such as when he's in battle. He can also form a type of rain shield, which is why Reyna isn't being affected by the rain.

She watches in wonderment as the droplets bounce off the invisible shield a few inches above her skin.

"There's going to be lightning and thunder tonight," Jason says, happily. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"Where?"

Jason points to the sky and Reyna can feel her face grow pale.

"You want me to fly with you into the sky during a thunderstorm?" Reyna asks, uneasily.

"Well, I was thinking why not? I mean, it's not like lightning's going to hit us. You'll have me." Jason smiles while he wraps his arm around Reyna's shoulders and gives her a friendly squeeze.

Her stomach flips, like it does when she's riding Skippy and he nosedives towards the ground. Her face heats up as well. She prays to Venus that Jason doesn't notice her blush.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"No, I-"

"No?"

"Jason. Shut up," Reyna growls, bristling with annoyance. He's smiling at her, with a twinkle in his eyes. Her annoyance fades and she almost smiles back. "I said _maybe_."

"I know." He replies, half smirking.

They sit in silence for a few moments, watching the rain patter around them. The steady flow of rain makes puddles on the ground and small streams of water that flow at the base of the temple, and down it's steps so it's almost like a Niagara Falls for ants.

Jason stands up and clears his throat, then bows to her. Reyna wonders what the Tartarus he's up to.

"Praetor Reyna, would you dance with me?"

"There's no music."

Jason smiles as if this amuses him.

"You don't need music to dance."

Reyna considers this for a second, then takes his hand.

He puts one hand on her waist and holds her other in his. Their dance is simple, their steps in sync, with a few twirls thrown in. Reyna shows him some different types of dancing.

Old fashioned ballroom dancing, which Jason thought dull, the Foxtrot, a few steps of the Waltz (which took a long time, as it is a hard dance to learn), and the Tango (but she suggests moving on to something else when he holds her in the crook of his arm, his lips extremely close to hers, to a point where she is afraid to even breathe and can hear only her fast heartbeat, their slightly ragged breath, and the rain pounding all around them).

It was then she reaches slowly into his pocket and takes out his golden coin that changes into a sword or a spear, and steps away from him.

"Where'd you learn to dance like that?" Jason asks, panting slightly.

Reyna smiles brightly, "Circe's. I had a lot of time on my hands back then."

"You're amazing," Jason says, he looks down and shifts from foot to foot. "The way you dance, I mean."

"And you're a fast learner."

"Thanks."

Reyna nods and flips his coin. His golden coin turns into a sword once she catches it. She sees Jason's holding something, too.

Her Imperial gold dagger. He must have taken it from her just after she took his coin.

"Are you really ready to dance now, Reyna?" Jason asks. He shuts down his mental shield and the rain falls freely on their heads, soaking their clothes and purple praetor capes. Good, it's funner to dance this dance in the rain.

She replies by thrusting her sword towards his chest, which he blocks with her dagger. She whirls and slashes at Jason. He ducks and lunges for her, she blocks. They keep up this dance for what feels like seconds but what must have been minutes.

This dance comes the easiest to her, and in her and eyes it's more beautiful and fluent than any other dance. It is Reyna and Jason's favorite dance. The dance of swords clanging, the dance of war.


	8. Lying

They sit in their praetor chairs in the beautiful principia, with it's velvet walls, polished floors, and ceiling mosaic of the founders of Rome. Sunlight filters through the windows, casting different colors across the floor. Aurum and Argentum lay at their feet, their heads on their paws.

Jason begins to wonder if automatons sleep, because technically they're only machines. He figures they probably power down or something instead of literally sleeping, like a computer does when it's not being used.

He watches Reyna braid her hair, undo it, then braid her hair again as he rolls his golden coin across his fingers. Every time she finishes braiding, it's in a tight black braid the color of obsidian with no flyaway strands. She undoes it just as quickly, her fingers combing through her braid from bottom to top.

She glances in his direction and stops what she's doing.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Reyna asks. Jason blinks and shifts uneasily.

"I didn't realize that I was." He replies, feeling a sudden rush of heat flood through his body.

Jason looks at his coin that he's stopped rolling between his fingers and now holds in his palm. He looks at the dogs, the mosaic, the banners, anything except Reyna's eyes, which he's sure if he does look at he'd only blush again.

"Oh." is all Reyna has to say. She unbraids the rest of her hair and pulls it behind her shoulders so it falls in dark waves down her back.

She stands up and walks to the table in the center of the room, plucking a jellybean from the bowl and looking hesitantly at it.

"Do... do you like me Jason?"

Jason leans forward in his chair,"Of course I do, Reyna. You're my best friend."

"We both know that's not what I mean."

There's a long silence as she looks him directly in the eye, and the atmosphere of the room changes from relaxed and happy to hesitant and awkward.

"Do you like me- think of me- as more than a friend?" Jason asks, trying to turn the tables and make her answer the question instead of him.

Reyna's face is blank,"Is there something that would give me reason to?"

Jason's heart sinks, but he smiles and pretends he's actually happy with her answer.

"Of course not! Really, Reyna. Why would I think of you as anything more than a friend? You might as well be my si-"

Jason stops and his shoulders slump as he thinks of the electric blue eyed, dark haired girl that haunts his dreams. Someone he'll never get to meet. He's had dreams about her, but it's blurred as always when he dreams of her. As if his eyes are half shut and not able to see everything. He usually never had dreams of her until Reyna came.

"You're the closest thing I'll ever have to a brother. I thank you for that, Jason."

Jason forces a smile,"You're welcome Reyna."

They had once said that they would never lie to one another, or keep secrets. But, friends aren't supposed to make secrets, and family isn't supposed to lie to each other. So where does that leave them?


	9. Notes

**Thank you for reviewing! I love it when you do! Sorry I haven't been updating as fast. Darn homework. I also was on vacation this weekend. We went to this big amazing house/cabin by the lake with my mom and dad's friends and their three little girls who are spazzy little devils (honestly I think one of them is ADHD) and it was so much fun! Anyway, I don't own Camp Jupiter or Jeyna or even Heroes of Olympus.**

Reyna searches his room. There has to be _something_ that can give her a clue about where he's gone. She looks under his bed, maybe for a postcard or something.

Maybe he found his sister. Or maybe he was mad at her for some reason. But he would have to be pretty freaking pissed to leave the camp alone. She'd been having dreams about him, but it was like Reyna was walking through a thick fog with the consistency of Jell-o, and she couldn't see anything. Just really blurry, fuzzy images. Like static on a television combined with steam on a mirror.

She sighs and stands up, looking around his room, carefully scrutinizing everything around her. Something is definitely wrong.

His room is perfectly clean, which is very unlike Jason. Sure, he's pretty clean, yet he has his own touch of untidiness as all boys do. But_ this_ is insanely clean. Almost like an OCD housekeeper came in and cleaned up his room. Jason's bed is perfectly made, all of his clothes are hanging in his closet. Shirts on one side, pants on the other. His floor seems vacuumed. Even his desk looks like it has been dusted.

Reyna begins to slowly hyperventilate with fear as chills run from the base of her neck to her tailbone.

Hold on. Someone had _been_ in his _room_. Messing with his stuff. Moving things around. Erasing evidence.

Other than his clothes in the closet, it's like he'd never existed. Someone had been here, taken him, or killed him, or maybe he even ran off. But, someone had rearranged his stuff, maybe trying to cover up- or look for something? Was it Octavian? He doesn't know where Jason keeps his key, or does he?

Reyna's head spins. She backs into his desk and sits on the floor. She tries to gather her thoughts_. _If she were Jason, where would she go? Nowhere. She'd stay here, where her home is.

Why couldn't humans have empathy links like fauns? Then she would know _exactly_ where he was. Reyna tries to calm herself. She reminds herself he's only been missing for a few days, even though it feels like weeks. He would be okay. He'd come back to the camp- to her. Things would be right again. And maybe, when he comes back, she'll be able to tell him how she really feels about him. And maybe, if he feels the same way...

She looks at his desk, pushing the thought to the back of her brain as her eyes trace the lines of the light colored wood grain on the dark drawer, trying to relax and calm her breathing.

_I wonder if... _Reyna lifts her head slowly and opens his top drawer. Fountain pens. Paper. Envelopes. Stamps. Leather cords to tie around the letter and the eagle's leg so that it doesn't fall off or get lost. Nothing much. No letters, no postcards as she'd half heartedly thought. Odd, how their ways of communication seems to have retrogressed in time. Mortals use cellphones, they use trained eagles, and sometimes hawks or owls to send letters.

She opens the other top drawer, finding dust bunnies. She attempts to open another one below it, but it's jammed.

Reyna tugs on the drawer below the first one she opened, expecting nothing. Instead, she finds letters with Jason's writing on them. Some are crumpled, some crammed into the drawer, and some nicely folded. She yanks out the drawer and dumps it's contents onto the clean carpet.

Kneeling, she searches through the mess with trembling fingers and hope in her heart. There could be something here to tell her where he's gone! Maybe he wrote her a letter or something but decided against telling her about it!

She grabs the first neatly folded paper and opens it, ripping it slightly in the process. Reyna doesn't find something that tells her where he is, or if he was taken. Instead, she finds this in Jason's slightly messy handwriting:

_Reyna,_

_ This is pointless, since you're never going to read these letters. But it was Bobby and Dakota's idea. At first it seemed stupid, but the more I thought about it the less corny it became. So, I'm writing this to say to you what I'd never say in real life. I love you. Or at least I think I do. I'm just really confused right now about what I feel for you. You're the last thing I think of when I go to sleep, and the first thing that pops into my head when I wake up. I definitely have strong feelings for you. I've been trying to convince myself that we're praetors, and we both agreed we were just friends and nothing else. I have to say I don't think I've ever thought about you as just a friend. I always thought you were pretty, even when I first saw you and you said you hated me. Don't you know when you run from a son of Jupiter, it only makes them want you more? Like Daphne and Apollo, Bacchus and wood nymphs, Jupiter and every other woman. I guess that's one of my flaws. (Thanks dad). I thought you were smart enough to know that, but not everyone's a daughter of Minerva. _

_Anyway, I don't just love you because you're pretty, but you're independent. You don't take any crap from anybody. You're so stubborn sometimes I want to scream at you to loosen up and calm down. You're probably more loyal than even Aurum and Argentum. You're always there when I need you most. Gods, I could go on forever saying what I love best about you. But, I could also ramble on about why I hate you. Why I'm jealous of you. How I've learned to tolerate your flaws. But that's the thing. We're humans, we're meant to have flaws. No one is perfect. Well, to me you're as close as it gets. Even a god has flaws, even if they act like they don't. _

_ From, Your Jason_

Reyna realizes she's been holding her breath for so long her heartbeat's in her ears. She lets it out slowly. _Love_. What in the name of Imperial Gold does that mean? Was it sisterly? No, they'd been past the sibling-like stage forever. Romantically? No! No, no, no, no. Reyna can _not_ afford to think that way. She doesn't even know if he's alive and she's concerned about their relationship! How selfish and stupid is that! This note didn't help her one bit! It made her confused! Now she didn't know where he was, she had a headache, and she may possibly_... _No_, _she wouldn't think the word. She didn't _like_ him in that way. They were... Everything _but_ that.

It did do something for her, though. One little small thing that made all the difference. Reyna could feel his presence when she read it, hear his voice clear and loud in her head, as if he was standing right next to her and reading the letter to her aloud. She runs her hand over the words in pen.

Reyna has a sudden desire to read more, and before she knows it, she's eagerly opening a crumpled paper with crossed out words and a few sentences scrawled on it.

_Hey Reyna, I wish I knew how you felt about me. Sometimes I think you're into me, other times not. I don't know what to think anymore. If I should distance myself from you or not. I know if I make the wrong move, I could mess up big time and our friendship would be over. I don't want that. But I don't want to be friends forever._

_From, Jason Grace _

Not all of them are written to her. A lot are old lists, notes, or old battle strategies from the Titan War and the War Games he probably kept for keepsakes. She finds a few drawings as well, but Jason Grace isn't the most artistic demigod around.

She feels better, happier. No, Reyna still has no idea where he was. But she knows he's alive and breathing. She'd been given some sort of sign, as if to say he's okay. He'll be alright.

_Dear Reyna, _

_If I had to say what I liked most about you (besides your beauty), it would be your determination. Your drive to finish things and never, ever giving up on anything. Not even the Legion. When you thought we were going to lose the War, you never said anything negative. You forced us to keep training, keep believing. That's something no one can ever take away from you. _

_Sincerely, J.G._

When she's done reading one she puts it in a pile next to her and goes onto another one.

_Regret. When I think of every day passing by, and my feelings for you grow but so does my_

_Envy. At you, for being better than me. Making up for everything that I lack. And it only makes me_

_Yearn more for you. Wishing we can be together. But I know that we can_

_Not. Whenever I bring up the subject all you throw in my face is_

_Animosity. Reminding me that it would be cliche. It's so hard to stay platonic when we both want the opposite._

_With love, Jason Grace _

When she's done reading all of them, she puts her head in her hands. No, she doesn't know where he is. Yes, she's more confused about these feelings she has for him bubbling and churning inside her stomach like horrible cramps. No, she doesn't even know of he loves her. Yes, these notes gave her hope. Hope. A flame that can't be extinguished.

Reyna carefully, gently folds up all of the papers as they were, and places them back in his drawer. Except for the pile of notes he'd written to her that sit in a small pile next to her. Those she woud take home and place them in the top drawer of her desk.

Before she leaves she writes him a note and puts it under his pillow.

_Jubilee. It's what I feel with you. When you make me laugh, or you hold my hand._

_Affinity. We have a bond that not even the scissors of the Fates can sever._

_Serendipity. It was that which I felt when we first shook hands, declaring our friendship._

_Openness. It took me forever to let you in on my secrets and my past. Now, there are none between us. _

_Noble. You became almost a king among us after the rule. A king fit for a queen. _

_Generous. When you always think of others before yourself._

_Radiance. It's like there's a ring happiness around you, it's impossible to be upset when you're with me._

_Admirable. People look up to you. Little Julia says she wants to be yu when she grows up._

_Confident. We always go to each other for advice, or help with a problem. Even if it's about each other._

_Everything I've never wanted, but everything I've ever needed._


	10. Careers

**I own nothing. Thanks to all of you who reviewed/favorited/alerted!**

"What do you want to be when you're older?" Jason asks. He swirls his steaming hot Top Ramen with a fork. (Yes, he eats Top Ramen with a fork. Doesn't everybody?)

Jason and Reyna sit on one of the low couches as they're eating dinner. Plates of food fly everywhere, and goblets float by, invisible wind spirits making them glide through the air and land gingerly on people's tables.

The chatter of the dining hall and the clanking of silverware on plates is at a dull roar, but it's almost annoying. Like when people munch on popcorn or food in the movie theater when you're trying to watch the movie.

Reyna smiles,"You tell me first."

"I asked you first." Jason retorted.

"But isn't the rule ladies first?" Reyna asks.

"You just called yourself a guy."

"And I called you a girl."

"Yeah, but you-"

"Just answer the question, Grace."

"Well, if you insist," Jason begins. He drops his gaze and heaves a sigh, then his voice drops to a murmur. "I want to... I don't know, exactly. I want to find my sister first. To know I have someone in my family-my blood related family- other than my dad. Maybe I'll be a pilot, or something that pays good and has to do with the sky. Anything but an astronaut. It'd be too annoying to wear those dorky helmets up in space when I can breathe perfectly fine without it on."

Reyna blinks a few times, her mouth hanging open slightly. Jason's suddenly worried he said something wrong.

"What? Reyna, don't look at me like that. You're acting like I fell out of the sky."

She closes her mouth and blinks again,"You never told me that you could breathe in space... Do you float around in it, or are you-"

"Oh, yeah. I can, um... well... fly? I could sort of go anywhere in space if I wanted to, I guess. Kind of like Superman." Jason says.

"I wish i could go with you, but something about space scares me. The huge vastness of it. I guess I'll be like Lois Lane, always confined to the laws of gravity." Reyna says, sounding almost sad. Jason suddenly feels a little bad for her.

Reyna blushes and Jason realizes what she'd accidently implied. Them. _Together_. As a couple. Blood and lightning. Conquest and power. He clears his throat.

"Well, I'll always be able to catch you when you fall," Jason says, half smiling. He locks eyes with her and doesn't want to look away. "Maye we can find something to do together, as a team. Go off together, fight monsters. Protect people. Like superheroes."

Reyna laughs for a while,"Superheroes. Really, Jason? _Superheroes_?"

She continues laughing, and Jason frowns because he feels slightly offended.

"Why not? Okay, fine. What do _you_ want to be when you're older, Reyna?" Jason asks rudely.

Her laughter dies down. She 's still smiling and looking like she could have another laughing fit at any moment,"No, I wasn't laughing at you! It's not half bad of an idea, Jason! It's just... what will the mortals see through the Mist? I doubt they'll see someone with a cape and a mask. They'll probably think it's luck or something that saves them. You won't get any credit for it."

Jason shrugs, he doesn't really care about the credit, or the fame. Okay, maybe he does want the fame.

"You never told me what you want to be when you grow up."

"I guess I'd want to be a trainer for young demigods? Help teach the new generation. Train them to fight. But I also sort of want to be able to go places and not be stuck in one place, you know?"

"Yeah. I might not mind staying here for the rest of my life. Your idea sounded pretty good to me. Train kids, live in the city. Never having to worry. That'd be nice. Except I'd get claustrophobic."

"It would still be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah it would."

Jason reaches for her hand, but pulls it back to his side when Dakota comes and squeezes in between them, sloshing his Kool-Aid on the table.

"I'm gonna have a demon ninja butler named Sebastian, and an old one named Alfred in that one thing... Manbat? Batman. And live in a big house in Hollywood with a computer built into it, like Sherlock Holmes in Iron Man!"

"You mean Tony Stark, right?" Gwen asks, standing over him.

"Tony Holmes. Sherlock Stark. Same difference."

Gwen smirks then rolls her eyes, and takes the flask out of his hands, starting to walk away with it.

"Hey! Give me back my Kool-Aid!" A dazed Dakota yells, jumping up, and bumping the table in the process. He trips over the couch and scrambles after Gwen. Jason and Reyna try to hide their smiles. That poor guy was going to die young, but with a smile on his face.

There's such a peace and a joy in the dining room, Jason feels completely relaxed. He looks at Reyna and, with both of their hands close enough to be touching, thinks that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay here after all.


	11. Hope

**Thanks for reviewing! Well, tell me what you think of this chapter.**

Reyna watches the sun set. The sky turns a pink color, and the sun glows orange. Usually, she would like the sunset. But not today. Today was different. It felt that her life was setting, just as the sun was. In one day from now, she would have to lead Camp into a war where their chances of winning were slim. They would scale Mount Tam and try to destroy Kronos' fortress, all the while fending off monsters and a ruthless titan.

She hears footsteps behind her. Reyna doesn't have to turn to know it's Jason. She can sense him fiddling with his golden coin. As a daughter of Bellona, she can sense when people have weapons and where they are hidden or being held at the moment.

"Hi." Jason says, his voice tight with worry.

"Hi." Reyna answers back.

"How you holding up?"

"It's funny. I've been so calm. But now that the day's here-"

"You realize how real everything is."

"Yes. Jason, I want to clean the slate. I don't want to go out with any regrets."

Jason tries to make her meet his eyes, but she stares at the ground.

Reyna finally meets his eyes, as blue and endless as the sky, when he takes her chin in his hand and forces her to face him.

"Your friendship has made up for it all. Is there anything I have to apologize for?" Jason asks, tilting his head slightly.

Reyna thinks back on when she had first met him, and hated him. She tried to think of anything really, really bad he has done to her. And surprisingly, no. Jason Grace has nothing to apologize for.

"No."

He kisses her cheek. Reyna can swear she feels a static shock when he does so.

"No regrets, right Reyna?" Jason asks.

"Right. No regrets." Is all she can think to say.

Jason takes her hands in his, "You've been my best friend for two and a half years. I, Jason Grace, am honored to fight by your side."

"And I to fight by yours."

They look at one another for a long, long moment. Reyna makes a silent vow that she will protect this son of Jupiter at any cost, even if she has to lay down her life for him. And she knows that he's thinking the exact same thing. When she looks into Jason's eyes, she sees a flicker of hope. It burns through her chest and goes through her limbs. A chance that they could win, because it's in the darkest times is when hope's flame burns the brightest.


	12. Dream

**My cousin writes these poems for the high school he attends and one of them inspired this oneshot. He likes this girl and she likes him but they're not allowed to date and I feel bad for them. Reminds me a lot of Jeyna because of that and- oh my goodness my one friend may be right, I am a little too obsessed with Percy Jackson. Maybe I need to go on hiatus or something. **

**I should take a break and reread the Hunger Games. Or get into another series for a few weeks. Which reminds me, the movie's one week away. Gah I love the Hunger Games! (I knew about them about a year ago, about five months before everyone started reading them) I'm kinda still obsessed with them, though. Between Katniss and the Hunters of Artemis I've taken an interest in archery and so has my cousin. We keep saying we're going to go to the range sometime but we never do. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to say that I don't own anything. But, you already knew that. ;) Enjoy!**

They run under the purple sky and across the Field of Mars, hand in hand. Jason pulls her along, their vibrant purple capes brushing the golden grass behind them. The harvest moon is beginning to rise. It's a beautiful color, like embers in a fire, except a paler color and half as bright.

He pulls her to a large and tall oak tree on a hill. They sit there and they watch the moon become brighter as the sky turns darker. They're still holding hands as the smoky gray-purple color of twilight turns to a dark blue and the first star of the night becomes visible.

"Make a wish." Jason says.

"I wish that I could have one more wish. Then there would be one for you, and one for me." Reyna says. Jason can't help but smile. He laces his fingers through hers, which she seems not to mind at all.

The purple sky turns a dark blue, and more stars appear in the sky. They seem almost dim when compared to the large orange moon.

Jason steals a glance at her. Reyna's expression is unreadable.

"How do you feel right now?" Jason inquires.

"Peaceful. Why?" Reyna raises a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, uh.. no reason." Jason mutters.

He always feels happy when he's with her. Unless there's an awkward silence. When there is, she purposely irritates him or tries to start an argument with him. He once asked her why she did that. Reyna had said that the chaos makes her feel calmer. Jason guesses it's one of her bad personality traits of being a daughter of war. When she's uncomfortable, making others uncomfortable or agitated makes her comfortable. When, if you think about it sort of makes sense, but not really.

Jason wonders if she's always happy whenever she's with him. Why can't they just have a normal conversation about how they feel about each other without it getting weird? Whenever he tries to bring it up, or do something that pushes the boundary lines of friendship, she pulls away from him.

Jason's surprised that she hasn't pulled her hand from his yet. He's been waiting for her to. He wonders what would happen if...

He counts down from three, fear being his only obstacle. His mind goes blank when he leans in to kiss her cheek. But Reyna turns her head at the last second, and his lips run into hers.

Reyna doesn't react. She's as still as a statue as he kisses her. It's impossible to describe how it feels with his warm lips pressed against hers. His mind can't seem to function properly. His heart sounds and feels like the beating of an eagle's wings inside of him. His stomach feels like little electric butterflies are swarming through him, trying to be everywhere at once. Something tells him to stop, and screams that he's seconds away from being beat up by his fellow praetor. The voice in the back of his head grows smaller and smaller the longer he ignores it.

He feels sparks on his lips that remind him of how Pop Rocks feel on your tongue.

Reyna seems to have overcome her initial shock (no pun intended). Her lips move against his, and when he thinks she's about to kiss him back, his eyes open.

Jason feels the dream evaporate like dewdrops catching the first few rays of sunlight. He finds himself in his bed. There was no harvest moon. There was no tree they had sat under. There was no kiss.

He lays there for a few moments, feeling downhearted. Jason blinks in the gray morning light coming in from the window. He lies there for a long time. How long, he doesn't really know. Jason tries to recall the dream, but it has almost completely evaporated, along with the blissful feeling it had given him.

Jason hears a knocking at the door and his stomach flips as it always does when he thinks of Reyna. He counts three knocks before getting out of bed and getting cleaned up for the day.

When he's done throwing on a clean camp shirt and jeans, and brushing his hair and teeth, Jason walks down the hall towards the front door where Reyna will be waiting.

His hand is centimeters from the doorknob, but Jason stops and takes a deep breath. He clears his throat and pushes away the dream. Then, he lets himself smile and counts down from three before opening the door.


	13. The Movies

Screams surround Reyna in the dark movie theater. Jason grips her hand in fear. Reyna winces the slightest bit at the sudden screams. She rolls her eyes at the movie. Really, these people didn't see that coming? She bites back a laugh at the squeals from girls around her, as the killer slices up his victim. These are always Reyna's favorite part of horror movies. The blood and guts.

Maybe she should be a horror movie makeup artist if she didn't retire to New Rome. That would be sort of fun. Throwing blood on people and making them gruesome looking. But with her ADHD, she might just get frustrated and impulsive. Spending an hour and a half on someone's makeup suddenly seems about as fun as playing leap frog with unicorns.

As hard as it is to believe, New Rome does in fact have a movie theater that shows much more than old Roman documentary movies, or _Clash of the Titans_ and _300_. The seats are extremely comfy, too. They actually get to see new movies before they're out in the mortal theaters. All thanks to a certain famous director who's a kid of two demigods- A daughter of Timor and a son of Metus, which are Fear and Terror.

Jason's hand tightens around hers. She looks at him with concern and sees his jaw clenched.

"You okay?" She whispers.

He shakes his head slowly. Reyna sighs, almost annoyed and leans back in her chair. She fights the urge to roll her eyes. This great son of Jupiter, praetor, and killer of the titan of constellations and stars, was squeamish at a little bit of blood. What a sissy.

When it's over he loosens his grip on her hand and excuses himself while he gets up and leaves the theater. After a few minutes, Reyna gets up, too. She didn't really want to, she actually was sort of enjoying the movie. But she felt like she had to go check on him to see if he was okay. If he was in the bathroom then she'd just wait for him outside.

The sudden light of the lobby makes her blink a few times as she shoves open the door, but doesn't make her eyes hurt like it would in the daytime.

She finds Jason sitting on the of the benches a few feet away. He's fiddling with his coin, like he usually does when something's worrying him.

Reyna sits next to him. The overwhelming buttery smell of popcorn makes her feel both hungry and sick at the same time.

"I didn't know you had such a weak stomach, Grace." Reyna teases.

He glares at her, his eyes telling her to shut her mouth.

"Sorry. Look, I won't tease you about it okay? Well, of course I _will_, but-"

"No. Reyna, you don't get it. It's not the movie alright?" Jason snaps at her, but there's a hollowness to his voice.

Reyna's worried she has offended him and her heart sinks. She feels horrible about teasing him.

"I was just kidding. I-"

"Just shut up and let me explain, would you?"

Reyna snaps bitterly,"What's got your toga in a twist?"

"That scene... I- I saw it when we were scaling Mount Tam."

"What do you mean?"

"A girl in my cohort, she was only about eleven or twelve. A demigod from Saturn's army tripped her. Then he started stabbing her. She had gotten her sword knocked away from her. It looked almost just like that movie in there. I couldn't do anything. I was trying to save my own life. I should have tried to help her."

Reyna mentally bangs her head against a wall. She thought he left because of the violence when it was actually because of a bad memory that he'd probably forgotten about up until now.

"There was nothing you could do."

"But there _was_. I _could_ have done something. I could have- should have..."

"Jason. Don't beat yourself up about it. I have friends I saw die that day, too. I know I didn't know them as long as you did, but they were family to me as well. We all have regrets about the War. You don't think I wished I could have been there to help my friends as they got mauled by monsters and slashed by demigods? I do. But there's nothing I can do about that now. Besides, they're probably having funner down there than they would up here. I bet they're partying in Elysium right now."

Jason cracks a smile at this. He seems to be happier, and Reyna feels happier, too. Like some of the bad memories of the Titan War have already been forgotten. They had barely even mentioned the Titan War, in hopes they would just forget all the bad things and look forward to the good.

"Yeah. Maybe they are."

"You _know_ they are. So, am I going to have to watch the rest of that movie by myself or are you going to come with me?"

"I'll watch it with you."

"Come on, then. I don't want to walk in just as the credits start rolling."

The big climactic scene is just beginning as they walk in. The killer is chasing the female protagonist. Luckily, she doesn't go upstairs and has enough smarts to go out the front door. If you go upstairs you'll just get trapped and have to jump thirty or so feet to the ground.

If that was Reyna the killer would have been dead in the second or third scene of the movie.

At the end, the protagonist kills the murderer, which turns out to be her nephew. How screwed up is that? That's like Dakota trying to kill Jason.

The credits roll and Jason asks her if she wants to stay until the end of the credits, saying there might be something at the end. She says that's fine with her.

Jason runs toward the back of the theater, and Reyna almost asks him what he's up to when he rises into the air and makes shadow puppets in front of the projector. Reyna laughs, slightly jealous and wishing she could fly. The few people sitting and waiting until the end of the credits laugh and point at the puppets, then turn around and look at Jason, then back at the screen.

As it turns out there is something at the end of the credits. The setting is a mortuary, where they keep bodies before burial. The killer opens his eyes and crawls out of his casket. It almost reminds Reyna of the dreams she had a few times about a golden sarcophagus, where Saturn was reforming. She shivers at the dream.

As they walk out of the theater, Jason asks her if she wants to see another movie. It's only seven forty. There is going to be some superhero movie that starts at seven fifty five. It would be over around ten or so and they both have to wake up at six forty five.

Although Reyna wants to go home, Jason finally convinces her to go, going on and on about how Dakota and Gwen and Bobby raved that it was really good. Reyna figures why not. The night was still young.

"Oh, and, by the way. Thanks for cheering me up, Reyna." Jason says.

"Hey. That's what I'm here for." She smiles, punching him in the arm harder than she'd intended.

"So, I don't know about you. But there's an air hockey table in the game room that's calling my name."

"I'm so going to win."

"Don't worry. I'll go easy on you. After all, I _can_ control air."

"To some extent. And, you really shouldn't brag before challenging a daughter of Bellona. We take gaming very, very seriously."

"Three denarii I win."

"Seven."

"Deal, although I feel bad that I'm technically stealing from you."

"Oh please, you might as well just hand over the denarii now." Reyna states cockily, shoving him playfully as they walk up the stairs.


	14. Gift

**Thank you for your amazing reviews. Every. Single. One. means_ so_ much to me. Thank you for taking your time to review. Thank you so, so much.**

**Oh my gods. I'm so happy and giddy and fangirly right now. The Legend of Korra is only a few days away. If any of you have seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, I recommend that you watch it because oh my gods it looks almost as good as A:TLA. Please, record it or something. Just watch it, and don't judge it because of the first episode. Review out of respect for Avatar Aang and for the sake of Korra, the new Avatar. **

Jason slips outside silently. The cold morning air nips at his face. He shivers, letting the cool gray mist that hangs over everything slap tiny water droplets against his face as he runs through the walkway. His footsteps echo loudly against the stone.

The sky is a gray-blue color. It's almost always foggy in the mornings, because they live so close to the ocean. He wonders where she would be this time of morning. Surely not sleeping, because she had said something to him about waking up early today.

Jason sees a figure sitting on the banks of the Little Tiber, her straight dark hair almost touching her waist. Reyna wears armor over her purple T-shirt and old jeans. Jason jogs over to her.

The dawn is just breaking, the pink sky reaching out to the foggy early morning like flames into the night. He stops behind her, and brushes his hand against his jacket pocket, where he holds her present. It feels like there's ice in his veins. What if Reyna doesn't like what he got her?

Reyna turns around and her eyes seem brighter when she sees him.

"Hi." She says.

"Hey. Happy birthday." Jason smiles.

"Oh. Thanks."

"That didn't sound very enthusiastic. What's up?" Jason inquires, taking a seat next to her in the cold sand.

"Oh, nothing. Birthdays just used to make me sad. They don't really anymore. My sister Hylla and I used to watch the sunrise together on my birthday," Reyna frowns, then her eyes light up. "I already got my birthday present from her."

"What is it?"

"This," Reyna says, shrugging, so the golden armor moved with her. "Supposedly it's some type of special metal melted down from a dragon's hide and laced with a nemean lion's pelt. When your sister's an Amazon, you get really great birthday presents."

Jason's heart sinks and he looks down at the cold sand, trying to count the grains. The mention of a sister and getting birthday presents from her had made Jason feel suddenly wistful. Reyna looks at him and her eyes widen slightly.

"Gods Grace! I forgot. I feel like a _caudex_! Just forget I said anything." Reyna grumbles at herself.

"It's okay. Don't beat yourself up about it." Jason says. The sentence comes out sounding sarcastic, and not sincere as he'd intended.

She glares at him until he feels that Reyna could be burning his eyes out of his sockets with laser vision. Jason blinks and leans away.

Reyna smiles,"I win."

"What?"

"Oh. I thought we were having a staring contest."

"Oh," Jason looks down and blushes, but for what reason he isn't exactly sure. "So what other birthday presents did you get?"

Reyna fishes something out of her pocket. She holds out a small, many faceted hot pink crystal vial with a stopper on it. She swirls it so the liquid makes a mimi tornado inside the vial.

"Perfume?"

Reyna laughs.

"Oh, I wish. It's love potion. I found it outside the door this morning. Probably from one of my friends. She's a legacy of Venus."

She opens it and for some reason wonders if she's going to drink it or hold it out to him, but instead she pours it into the Little Tiber. The liquid is a shimmery iridescent substance so it looks like it could be a liquid form of diamonds.

"As if I'd ever need it for anybody." Reyna smiles, putting the stopper back on the now empty vial. She puts the vial in her pocket. The iridescent love potion floats on top of the river like oil, then quickly is taken downstream by the river.

Jason looks up at the sky, which is now blazing with orange and pink and gold like a wildfire. The Little Tiber is almost the same color as the sky, and everything else is cast in a golden orange glow.

He puts his hand inside his jacket pocket, wrapping his hand around her present. He takes out the necklace, a golden chain connected to a carving of an eagle clutching a crossed sword and torch.

"I got you something." Jason says, handing it to her.

She takes the necklace from him and looks at it for a long time. Her face is expressionless and she shows no sign of happiness or disappointment. Jason doesn't blame her. The carving isn't that great although he worked really hard on it. The spread wings look like spikes, and the bird's body looks too round. The head looks terrible. Don't even get him started on the torch and sword.

"You made this yourself." She finally states.

"How did you know?"

"Because, it's something you would do. Also, if this was bought it wouldn't have been this-"

"Terribly made?"

Jason blushes in embarrassment and wishes he'd just thrown it away. He could have gotten her something better. She hated jewelry anyway.

"No! It's- Jason, I... This- This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten. Do you want to know why?

"Why?"

"Because even though my sister gives me amazing presents for my birthday, and she means well, it isn't from her heart. You took your time to make this for me."

"You really mean that."

Jason tries to see if she's lying or not. But, Reyna isn't a lying person. She sometimes doesn't tell the full story, but she never lies.

"Of course I do. Unless you see a reason I would be. Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Why the eagle carrying the symbol of Bellona?"

Jason's surprised that she actually knew what it was a carving of.

"B-Because I'll always be there to catch you when you fall."

Reyna almost tackles him in a hug. The heavy, almost impenetrable armor and her bone crushing hug knocks the wind out of Jason.

"Thank you, Jason. And I'll always be by your side to help you kick ass."

"I know you will. You're welcome, Reyna." Jason wheezes.

She pulls away quickly and her cheeks are tinged pink, but Jason figures it's probably from the sunrise. Reyna's smiling from ear to ear, and her dark eyes are sparkling. Butterflies start to swirl in Jason's stomach.

"Would you put it on me?"

"Sure."

Reyna hands him her necklace and moves her hair out of the way. He puts it around her throat, then closes the clasp. For some reason he has a hankering to kiss her neck after he does so, but, because he didn't have the hide of an indestructible lion to protect him from her dagger, he did not.

They sit and watch the rest of the sunrise together. Little does Jason know that exactly a year from then, she would be sitting in the same spot outside the gates, looking wistfully into the Caldecott Tunnel, waiting for her eagle to catch her before she hit the ground.


	15. Fever

**I listened to Rick Riordan read the first chapter of The Mark of Athena on youtube (Type in "rick riordan reads the mark of athena chapter 1" and the one that has a bunch of capitalized letters and shows Rick at a podium is the right one) Well, what are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!**

**But, come back afterwards, please! Thanks.****  
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Reyna rolls over in bed, chills making her pull the covers more tightly around her. She shivers, although her body is covered in sweat. Her mouth tastes weird and feels hot. Like it does when you have a fever. Reyna's going to throw up any second. She just knows it. Not to mention that her stomach is churning like a pool of boiling acid.

Reyna has a horrible headache, too. It feels like a large rubber band has wrapped itself tightly around her head, making it throb as if it has a heartbeat.

She would have run to the bathroom, but whenever she sits up the room spins and she feels even more queasy.

Aurum lays on the foot of her bed and Argentum lays on the floor. There's a knock at the door and they both bolt out of the room and down the hallway, barking excitedly.

Reyna hears the door open and Jason call out her name._ Go away!_ She thinks bitterly. Every sound seems louder and more annoying to her.

Footsteps in the hall, then a silent knock on her partially open bedroom door. She groans, not opening her mouth, because she's afraid if she speaks she won't be able to keep her food down.

"Hey. You okay? It's eight o'clock and you should be up by now." Jason says gently. He walks over to her bedside and sits on the edge of her bed.

The greyhounds jump up. Argentum slams his paw into her stomach and thigh. Reyna curses and nudges the dog away with her leg. He lays down on his stomach next to her, his ruby eyes inches from hers. Argentum lets out a slight whine, cuddling closer to her. The automation's cold body raises goosebumps on her arms, but feels almost soothing.

"Jason. If I was able to get up, I would have. I think I have that stupid flu that's been floating around lately."

His eyes are laced with concern, his lips turned down at the edges. The scar on his upper lip ripples when he does so. Jason caresses her forehead with his hand. It's ice cold, which makes Reyna tremble.

"Good gods! Reyna, you're _really_ hot."

"Thanks. You're not too bad looking yourself, Grace."

Jason looks at her for a second, confused. Then he gets it and scoffs.

"Oh ha ha. Very funny. Well, you still have your sense of humor so that's a good sign. Do you need me to get you anything?"

"No. I can take care of myself."

"I know you can. I was just _wondering_ if I _could_ get you anything."

"I'm fine. Go do your praetor duties, okay? I'll be back to normal tomorrow."

"I'll check on you whenever I can, okay?" Jason says as he moves the hair out of her face. He gets up and whistles for the dogs, which hop off the bed. But not before stabbing Reyna's stomach and legs with their paws. She bites back another curse.

"Stop worrying about me. Just go run the camp, alright?" She groans, rubbing her stomach. She almost disgorges what little food she has in her stomach right then as she feels the vomit crawl up her throat. Her stomach feels even worse because of the automations. Like the wind has been knocked out of her.

Stupid dogs. She's sure that they did that on purpose. Probably because she didn't give them her steak the other day at dinner. They were staring at her for what seemed like forever. But she still didn't succumb to their begging. Really, they are freaking automations. They don't even need_ food_. Unless you consider motor oil food, then they do.

"As you wish." Jason chuckles softly, closing the door behind him.

Reyna feels like she's heard that from somewhere, but she can't remember. Maybe a movie or a show. Oh well, like it mattered. Gods, now her head is hurting again, even worse than before. It feels like that large rubber band has been taken off of her head and the Throbbing is worse.

She tries to go to sleep and ignore the constant urge to vomit, but eventually finds herself in the bathroom, leaning over her toilet. The horrible hurricane swirling inside her stomach comes in waves like the ocean.

Chills wrack her body and sweat dabs her neck. Her teeth chatter and her knees begin to go numb from kneeling on the cold tile for so long. She grabs a towel and stuffs it under her head to use as a pillow. Curling up against the wall, sleep eventually finds her.

_Reyna walked toward the cage of hamsters. C.C. had told her to feed them. She opened the cage and took out the bowl to pour the food in. One of the hamsters screeched suddenly, then bit her on the wrist. Reyna's eyes widened and the bowl dropped from her hand which clattered against the stone. Blood dripped from her wrist onto the polished floor. She gasped as the pain tore through her arm. The eyes of the hamster grew. They were an ugly brown-red. Like the color of mud mixed with blood. _

_She blinked, but when her eyes opened again she found herself being pushed into a wooden wall. The ship's floor rocked beneath her. A pungent stench made her clamp her hand over her nose. She breathed in through her mouth. She tasted sweat and dirt. Luckily, though, it stopped her lunch from coming back up. _

_"Aye, she's a fighter this one is. A pretty one at that, too. The blood of a warrior, she has. I know a daughter of war when I see one." Blackbeard laughed, his grimy hand touched her cheek, as if affectionately. His crew mates laughed loudly. Reyna shivered when his face moved closer to hers. She could smell his breath. It was indescribable, the smell. But it made Reyna want to faint and puke in his face at the same time. Instead, she snorted loudly and all the snot traveled to her mouth and mixed with her saliva. This was something she would have never done on the island. _

_But then she reminded herself: She was _not_ on the island. Reyna removed her hand from her mouth and spat in Blackbeard's face. Snot and spit dripped slowly down his face._

_"You and your crew should burn in hell." She stated confidently, standing taller. _

_His eyes flickered for a moment, and she could see red in his irises. He wiped his face, growled darkly, and grabbed her black hair. A scream escaped her as he slammed the side of her head against the wall. Reyna fell to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. The side of her head was wet and warm with blood. It took a few seconds for the pain to settle in, but when it did it erupted through her. He kicked her stomach and she gasped for breath._

_Then, something snapped inside of her. A small part of her died. She was not a weak and needy daughter of Venus. She was a daughter of Bellona. She was no longer the sorceress in training. No longer did she don dresses as light as feathers or wear sandals that laced up her ankles. No longer would she wear makeup or nail polish or have someone to do her hair in extravagant braids or beautiful ringlets. She was not that girl anymore. And, for some reason, Reyna was glad that she wasn't. She liked this new feeling. This feeling of adrenaline buzzing within her. Her instincts beginning to kick in._

_Revenge ran through her like adrenaline. She could see everything more clearly. As if she'd been blind but then miraculously regained her sight. Reyna stood up and, gathering her strength, punched the most fearsome pirate in history right in the nose. Blood flowed from it and into his mouth and beard._

_"You'll pay for that, matey!" He yelled, a hand reaching for his sword._

Reyna opens her eyes, and sees a face above her. She sweeps her legs under the person, and they're knocked to the ground. She stands up and plans to put her foot on the person's chest. But, since the blood hasn't rushed to her head and the flu is still making her brain fuzzy, she stumbles back and leans against the wall. Reyna's head throbs and her body is stiff from sleeping on the floor.

"Jason! I-I'm sorry, I-"

"It's okay. I shouldn't have woken you up. You looked like you were having a pretty crazy dream." Jason says, getting up off the bathroom floor and looking slightly shaken up.

"I was. I thought you were... someone else." Reyna muttered, her eyes dropping to the ground as she sat down.

Jason sits next to her. He nods to the counter, where a glass of bubbly water sits.

"I got you some Alka-Seltzer. I'm no son of Apollo when it comes to taking care of sick people. But, I thought it would help."

"Thank you. I think you're doing okay. Except that you don't listen to me when I tell you to do something."

"When have I done that?"

"I told you not to worry about me. And you didn't listen, did you?"

"It's two, Reyna. There's nothing else to do."

"No, when I fell asleep it was around ten. It must be only twelve."

"Well you must have been sleeping for a while, then. Because according to the clock it's two in the afternoon."

"Oh."

Reyna leans against Jason for support. Usually, she wouldn't think of doing such a thing. But right now she was so tired and feeling so crappy that she could be leaning against a hellhound for support and she wouldn't care.

"You're cold." She complains. He feels like he's been standing outside in the snow. Not that she knows what it feels like to be in the snow. His windbreaker is freezing, and his chilly hair tickles her forehead. A cold arm wraps around her shoulder.

"It is sort of a cold day. But I think it's mostly just because of your fever. Maybe it's because I've been outside, but I think you're hotter than you were-"

"I appreciate your opinion on my looks, Jason. But I don't think I look any better now than I did this morning."

Jason sighs and rolls his eyes, even though he's smiling.

"Okay, you goofball. Do you want to stay here or should I carry you to bed."

"I can walk fine. I also want you to go and stop neglecting the camp, Jason. If no one can find either of their praetors when they need them, they'll think we're... up to something."

Jason's eyes widen at her implication. That people would think they were doing things praetors shouldn't be doing until they were a lot older. Things that praetors shouldn't even be doing in general.

"Alright, I'm going. I'm going. I'll check on you after the War Games okay?"

"Tell me who wins."

"I was already going to."

"Good."

Jason nods,"See you later."

He stands up and leaves. She's sort of glad he's gone, because now she doesn't have goosebumps and she's not freaking out about the camp not being run.

Reyna takes the glass from the counter and chugs it down. It's lost some of it's fizz, but she hopes it will help her stomach. She hasn't eaten or thrown up at all today. She's only been having dry heaves, where you gag and your whole body contracts and it feels hard to breathe but nothing comes up, which is much worse than actually barfing.

She tries to sleep again, but since it's harder to on the ground, she walks to her bed even though she doesn't want to leave the bathroom. Her body is now hot instead of cold, so she lays on her bed with only the sheets covering her.

When she wakes up again it's because she hears metal claws tapping across the floor of her house. The greyhounds have returned. Reyna figures that Jason has, too. She swears that if he checks up on her after this for a fourth time in one day, she's going to stick her dagger somewhere that would be very uncomfortable for him.

She rolls over on her side, away from the door.

That's when Reyna realizes that it's dark outside and the day is over. She guesses that she's going to have a rough night ahead since she slept most of the day. And, if she's lucky, Jason won't visit her for the rest of the night. She hates being babied or being waited on because it just makes her uncomfortable. It also makes her feel weak, as if she isn't independent enough.

The door creaks open, and the dogs jump on the bed and cuddle next to her, as if to apologize for trying to trample her to death with their feet this morning. _Kissing up won't do any good for you, buddy. Those puppy dog eyes aren't getting you_ _anywhere_. Reyna thinks.

"Second Cohort won. Although the First came close."

"That's good."

Jason scoffs, sitting on her bed, "Not for my cohort."

Reyna laughs softly. She can't help but feel bad for him.

"You feeling better?" Jason asks.

"Not much." she says.

He studies her eyes for a minute. This makes her feel even more nauseous, but almost in a good way.

"Your eyes are really pretty when you're sick. Did you know that?"

"Um... No. Thank you, I guess."

"Well, they are. They're glassy and change to a softer brown color. They're not as... Intimidating as usual."

Reyna never thought her eyes to be pretty. In fact, they are one of the few features that she sort of dislikes about herself. She wishes that her eyes were a more beautiful color instead of just a dark, fearsome brown.

"What's wrong with being intimidating?"

"Nothing! I was just saying that you have pretty eyes. I didn't mean it in a bad way, Reyna."

"Oh. Well, thank you. Your eyes are pretty, too. Especially during a storm."

"They are?"

"Yeah. They're more vibrant. Almost an electric color instead of icy blue."

"I didn't know that."

"Well, it's true. Could you go now, please?"

Reyna pulls the pale colored sheet up to her neck, then rolls over on her side.

"What if I don't want to?" Jason whispers. Reyna feels a sudden wave of cold even though she still feels hot. She turns to face him again.

"Why would you not want to?"

Jason rubs the back of his neck and mutters, "Because I want to be able to protect you and take care of you."

This causes a warmth that has nothing to do with her fever to start in her chest and spread through her. It also makes her brain feel even more fuzzy. Reyna isn't really used to getting heartfelt compliments, but when she does she has no idea what to say next other than thank you.

"I don't like it when people take care of me. People took care of me when I was on Circe's island. Sure, I didn't mind it then. But, well, when it got destroyed, I told myself that needy girl had gotten destroyed along with the it. I miss it sometimes, though."

"Letting someone take care of you doesn't mean that you're needy or weak-"

"I feel that way sometimes, though."

"Well, you shouldn't. That's one of your flaws. You don't accept help and are so independant, which is a good thing, but is also a really bad thing. You push yourself too hard. You have some trust issues-"

"Hey! I only have trust issues when it comes to boys, and there's a really good reason for that. I mean, it took me forever to get used to you."

"Yeah, same here. I tried to be nice and you were completely rude to me."

"Like I said, trust issues. Excuse me if being kidnapped by pirates and having been taught for a large portion of my life that men are pigs happened to rub off on me."

Jason smiles, "I never thought of it that way. Anyway, as I was saying, being helped out is different than being needy. Besides, I really don't mind taking care of you when you're sick. It makes me feel like I'm paying you back."

Paying her back? Paying her back for what? What has she done for him that he thinks he needs to pay her back for? Other than helping out with war strategies and battle plans and being his dueling buddy in training. Still, she has been cruel to Jason Grace in the first eight months she knew him and was still even rude after that. It took about half a year for her to start trusting him, and another few months to actually start calling him her friend.

"For what?"

Jason just looks at her for a long, long time.

"For everything."

Reyna would have asked him what she'd done in particular to make him think that he owed her, but she had a feeling that Jason's list would be very long, and Reyna was too tired to ask.

Her body still aches, and her stomach feels worse now that she's not thinking about anything and is relaxed so that all Reyna can think about is how she hates being sick. She tries to ignore it as she closes her eyes slowly. Jason's fingers touch hers, which curl around his.

"Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome, Reyna."

Maybe just letting Jason take care of her as he insisted was just what she needed. And, maybe letting herself to be taken care of every once in a while wasn't as bad as she had once thought it was.


	16. Festivity

**Please feel free to put on the cutest slow dance song that you can think of.**

Music echoes from the dining hall. Pipes and lyres play in the distance and the lights from New Rome glisten on the water of the Little Tiber. The smell of dry grass fills the air.

Jason Grace should be inside and enjoying the party. It's a celebration for Camp Jupiter in honor of winning the war with the Titans. Instead he stands outside, looking up at the stars. Along with the crescent moon, they are bright enough to lighten the dark streets of the camp.

He breathes in the cool night air. It relaxes him, and he's glad to have some time to himself. Everyone's been swarming around him. Asking to dance, introducing themselves, and shaking his hand. Some people have even asked for his autograph. He can't say he hates the attention. He loves it. But Bobby reminded Jason that fame doesn't last forever.

It's been one day since they scaled Mount Tam and destroyed Saturn's fortress. But it feels like it's been weeks. And that's perfectly fine with Jason. He'd like to forget about the past, and start thinking about the future.

He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't hear Reyna's footsteps behind him. His muscles tighten and he flinches in surprise when her hand touches his shoulder.

Jason turns around and finds himself smiling like a lovestruck idiot. Reyna stands before him, looking beautiful. Everyone's dressed in their best. So it shouldn't surprise Jason that Reyna's wearing a white dress that falls to her ankles. He also thinks that he sees silver high heels under her dress, but he could be mistaken.

Her hair is glossy and falls down her back in ringlets. Her dark eyes look even more noticable and fearsome with eyeliner and mascara. The contrast of her pale dress and cream colored skin with her satiny black hair and smoky eyes makes Jason's heart go crazy. He feels dizzy and lightheaded.

"Why aren't you enjoying the party? It is for us, you know." Reyna says.

It takes Jason a minute to find his voice,"I know. I was just getting some fresh air. I mean, you know how the ladies are. Everyone wants to dance with the saving grace of Camp Jupiter."

"Would you turn me down if I asked, then?" Reyna muses, taking a step closer to him.

"Of course not. Why? Were you thinking of asking?" Jason replies cooly.

"Maybe I was." Reyna's voice drops to a whisper. She winks at him, then fixes the collar of his electric blue dress shirt and straightens his storm gray tie.

Jason laughs, trying to shrug off his blush. Oh, the games they play with each other. Where does the teasing end and the flirting begin?

Reyna takes his hand and drags him inside. It's hot and stuffy and packed with people. His claustrophobia sets in and he squeezes Reyna's hand tightly as they wade through the mob. They go to the center of the dance floor. It's much less crowded there, to Jason's relief. They slow dance arms length apart to an upbeat pop song for a while.

"I didn't know that you owned a dress this..."

"Elegent? I do. It was my sister's, from the island."

"Oh. Was it special to her?"

"I guess. It didn't fit her anymore, so she gave it to me. You look nice tonight. The gray suit and tie really brings out your eyes."

"Thanks."

Jason wants to tell her how beautiful she looks. He almost does, but a sudden fear overcomes him and he's afraid to speak because he knows he'll mess up. But Jason suddenly gets distracted and nods a few feet in front of them.

"Look at Julia." Jason whispers.

Reyna turns and bites back a laugh. Julia is slow dancing with Jimmy, a legacy of Pluto and a son of Mars. His black hair is slicked to one side, and he looks like he's pretending not to have a good time. There's a scowl etched on his olive toned face even though his steel gray eyes shine with joy.

If you've ever seen two little kids slow dancing, well, it's extremely adorable. Almost sickeningly adorable. Julia, who is trying to show Jimmy how to dance, guides his hand to her waist. He rolls his eyes and does as she instructs. Then, he holds her hand with his free one and tries to keep his steps the same as hers.

"Reminds me of someone I know." Jason says to Reyna.

"How? I'm-"

"A total bump on a log when it comes to having fun?"

"That's only if I'm stressed out. But those days are far, far behind us. Now we can sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of our lives."

"Yeah. The dark days are over. I feel bad about the generation that has to deal with the Prophecy of Seven."

"We'll be there to help them out, though. Even if we're in our nineties. They won't be all on their own."

"We were."

"No we weren't."

A slow song comes on. Jason's about to bolt from the room as the couples around him hold each other and sway on the dance floor. Except for Julia and Jimmy, who have gotten the hold of slow dancing together.

Reyna grabs his wrist, as if sensing his flight or fight instinct. They find themselves slow danging together. His hand on her waist and hers on his shoulder. Their free hands are laced together. Their steps are the same and keep in time with the music. She twirls underneath him. They dance as seperate people, but as if they are one being. Gracefully they glide across the floor and follow in each other's steps.

"I thought I was going to lose you, Jason." Reyna whispers so low that he has a hard time hearing her.

"You did?" Jason asks dumbly. His brain feels fuzzy.

Reyna twirls gracefully. Her dress fans out around her feet. She then pulls herself closer to him again.

"Yeah. I did. When I was fighting, and saw all that lightning and those bright bursts of light at the top of the mountain I thought to myself, 'I hope I get to see Jason Grace's face one last time.' and I thought I wasn't going to."

"Did you cry?"

Reyna takes a second before answering with a slight smile in her voice,"Only a little."

"I knew that you'd have survived, even if I didn't."

"How?"

"Well, if you saw me die, you'd probably have killed Krios yourself to avenge me and be driven by adrenaline or something. You're more powerful than you think, Reyna."

"No I'm not. My mom's a minor god. What good is detecting weapons? Or -"

"Throwing a dagger at it's target from a hundred feet away? Or having enough bravery to volunteer to lead the attack on Mount Tam? Or always beating me in duels? Or-"

"Sshh," Reyna snaps, placing her warm fingers on his lips. "Just shut up, would you? You're ruining the moment and seriously starting to make me regret asking you to dance with me."

She rolls her eyes and leans her head on his shoulder. She smells like lavender and jasmine. Jason sighs contentedly and looks down at his feet to make sure he isn't floating, because he feels light as air. Luckily he isn't. Jason closes his eyes and drinks in everything about her. How heat radiates from her in the already hot room. How her arms fit around him, or his shoulder creates the perfect headrest for her. Reyna. Reyna. Reyna.

He could have lost her yesterday. If he had, he would have turned down praetorship and... And what? Without his best friend that he might be in love with, what would be left for him? Friends there to support him, a family with open arms. But far too many memories of _her. _Wherever he walked. When dueling, or participating in War Games.

All he would see was her. Scipio would probably be passed down to Jason. He wouldn't be able to ride the pegasus without feeling Reyna's arms wrapped around him, or thinking about his arms wrapped around her.

"_Ego__ amare te Reyna__._" Jason whispers so low that he can barely hear himself. _I love you, Reyna._ It's true, he does. She knows he loves her. As a friend, of course.

All the blood rushes up into his cheeks when Reyna replies,"_Ego amare vos mea salva gratia__._"

_I love you too my saving grace_. Jason repeats her words over and over again in his head.

Reyna wraps her arms around his neck and looks into his eyes and- Oh gods he can't breathe. He can't breathe and Reyna's eyes are paralyzing him. Freezing Jason's bones and turning his blood to ice in his veins so he's incapable of moving a muscle.

She reaches up, as if to brush a stray strand of hair behind his ear, but pauses. She instead wraps her arms around his neck again.

Reyna steps on his feet, and he starts to dance again. His feet feel like lead because of the extra weight on them. If Jason leaned about eight inches closer, they'd be nose to nose. If he moved an inch closer than that, he'd be able to kiss her. Why not? What's stopping him from doing so?

Fear. Fear of ruining something that took months and months to build. Fear of losing her friendship. Fear that she won't feel the same way. No, there's something else stopping him too. His reputation.

Everyone would know about the two praetors seen kissing on the dance floor. Octavian would use their relationship against them. Maybe there'd even be a column of them in _Nova Romae Times_, the daily paper of New Rome. Which is un Latin, of course.

And, now that he was praetor, he couldn't risk that. A reputation like his wasn't built overnight. It took years. Besides, they weren't supposed to be together. _Praetors_ weren't supposed to be together. Jason's heart sinks sadly. He brushes a lock of Reyna's dark hair behind her ear. How could he not be with her?

"Reyna, I want to tell you tha-" Jason starts but is interrupted by someone tugging violently on his pant leg. Jason looks down quizzically. Julia jumps up and down. Her corkscrew curls bounce when she does.

"'Xcuse me. Can I dance with you? Jimmy had to go home 'cus it was past his bedtime."

Great, now Jason forgot what he was going to say to Reyna.

"Sure you can, Jules," Reyna says, then jokes lightly. "Just make sure that you get him home by nine thirty, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." Julia replies, smiling brightly.

"Goodnight, Jason." Reyna kisses him on the cheek and steps away. Her hand slips from his. Jason's about to tell her goodnight, but she's lost in the sea of people.

"Goodnight." He mumbles. Jason doesn't want her to leave. He wants her to stay.

He feels the ghost of her arms wrapped around him. Jason shakes off the feeling and looks down at Julia, who jumps up and down and reaches her arms out for him to pick her up.

Jason smiles and does so. He balances her on one arm and holds her small hand in his. She puts her free arm around his neck for support as they begin to dance.

"You know that Jimmy likes you, right?" Jason asks, smiling when her face turns as red as her dress.

"No. He hates me. I try to be his friend, but he doesn't want me to be." Julia frowns and he thinks he sees tears in her eyes.

"Oh, that's not true. He likes you. Do you see the way his eyes shine when he looks at you?"

"He was frowning, though."

"Was he? I didn't notice," Jason says."I know someone who did the same exact thing to me when I was twice as old as you are now. The key is to be nice to them. But don't get offended when he starts throwing nicknames out there. You have to be ready to call him nicknames back. Then he'll start thinking that you're not afraid to back down. Kids of war like it when you're competitive."

"Really?"

"Cross my heart."

Jason hums along to the song, which is familiar to him.

"Are you and Reyna boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"What? Uh... I- I don't really know. It's complicated right now."

"Why? All you have to do is kiss her, then everything will be perfect. Or you can make her love potion. Then she'll be in love with you and _have_ to be your date."

"It's not that easy, Julia. Besides, if she likes me I want her to like me for me and not because of a love potion."

"Then kiss her why don't ya? What's the worst that could happen?"

"A lot of bad things that would give you nightmares."

"You don't know until you try, Sparky Sparky Boom Man."

Jason chuckles,"Sparky Sparky Boom Man?"

"Yeah, because you're all BOOM! I defeated a titan with my sparky zapping powers!"

"Okay, now the nickname makes sense."

Julia gasps and tugs on his tie, choking him. He swears he can feel his face turn blue.

"What?" Jason wheezes.

"Put me down. Mommy and Daddy are looking for me and they look mad!"

"Okay, okay."

Jason puts Julia down and she runs away but yells behind her,"Don't forget to kiss her!"

People look in his direction and Jason rubs the back of his neck, blushing, and fixes his tie.

"Thanks for the advice!" He yells back.

He wades through the crowd of people and doesn't breathe until he's outside. Jason takes gulps of fresh air, happy he's not breathing hot condensed molecules of sweat anymore.

Not wanting to go back to his house, he wanders around New Rome. Enjoying life and thinking about what Reyna had said and wondering what it means. _  
><em>

_I love you too my saving grace._

She didn't mean that literally. She doesn't actally love him. But she was flirting with him. If she meant it literally, she would have kissed him.

_Then why was she flirting with you?_ A little voice inside his head asks him.

She wasn't flirting with him, just teasing him. Right? Grrr! Girls are so confusing! One moment they're flirting with you, the next they've got their dagger whipped out ready to slice you to bits.

Besides, Reyna doesn't trust guys because her home got destroyed by them.

Jason looks up at the stars, his eyes drifting to The Huntress constellation among the hundreds of other stars. _Reyna couldn't love me... Could she?_

**I know Reyna's OOC and all affectionate, but I figured both her and Jason would probably be high on life just after the second Titan War and stuff.**


	17. Desire

She finds herself at her desk, turning over the brown paper parcel in her hand. It's from her sister Hylla. She puts the parcel down and opens the letter that lies next to it. The seal of the Amazons is on the envelope.

_Dear Reyna, _

_ This has been sitting on the shelves for a while and no one has claimed it. I thought that you'd like it. If not, you can send it back or give it to someone else. It's supposed to show your deepest and darkest desire. Do you want to know what mine was? Mine was that I was a true sorceress and had completed training at Circe's School of Magic. Amazons ruled the world and I had killed those pests that destroyed our home. Anyway, I'd like to know what you see. That is, if you're comfortable enough to tell me. If you're not that's okay. I love you and hope you're doing well. Write me back as soon as you can._

_Good Fortune, _

_Hylla _

Reyna laughs and rolls her eyes at her sister's letter. Of course her darkest desire would be world domination and killing those kids that destroyed C.C's island. She picks up the parcel and unwraps it. Inside the layers of paper is a silver compact mirror, the kind that women usually carry around in their purses, with an odd engraving on it inlaid with gold: επιθυμία.

She opens the mirror and looks inside. Reyna's eyes widen and a strangled gasp escapes her. She drops the mirror and begins to hyperventilate, running her hands through her hair.

Her heartbeat feels too fast as it pounds in her ears. Her cheeks too hot with the blazing blush that instantly flashes through not only her face, but her whole body.

Because what she sees in that mirror is what she least expected to see. Reyna expected to see herself at the island, maybe. Or being made immortal by the gods. Possibly even influencing the future in such a way that even the mortals know her name and create a large monument dedicated to her.

What she least expected to see was what she actually saw: Jason Grace smiling back at her.


	18. Claustrophobia

Jason fends off the girl from the Third Cohort with his lance. She takes a dive at him with her sword. He sidesteps, knowing that she's leaning most of her weight on her weapon. He can tell by the way her feet are positioned. Her own momentum causes her to fall. Jason hears footsteps behind him just as the girl trips. He whirls around. His lance connects with the person's helmet, which leaves a dent. The boy holds up his shield and sword in defense, then falls to his butt.

A stinging feeling explodes across his left arm. Jason turns swiftly on his heel. The girl who had tripped smiles triumphantly. Jason looks down and sees a deep cut on his upper arm. He scowls and drives the unpointed part of his lance into the girl's chest, effectively knocking the wind out of her.

He turns back around to the guy, who's still probably dazed from that blow to the head. The boy stands back up. Jason kicks him in the shin and runs towards the fortress, which is guarded by the Second and Fourth Cohorts.

Bombs explode around him, being catapulted from the ballista atop the tower. Hannibal the Elephant roars, taking a spear out of a kid's hands, who complains and yells curses at the gigantic beast. The sound of clanging metal fills his ears. Smoke makes it hard to see, and Jason has a hard time breathing. He tries to clear the smoky air with the wind that follows his commands while he speed walks through the field. When he is able to see again, he continues running.

Suddenly, he trips over a spear. How heroic of him. A dark haired girl stands over him and lifts the long pointed weapon. Jason wills the air currents to clear more of the smoke. It's Reyna. He holds up his own spear to defend himself. Their lances clash. Jason sends jolts of electricity through the spear, and Reyna grits her teeth in pain. Her black hair stands up a little. But, like the warrior she is, she doesn't give in.

The electric jolts hadn't worked as Jason had hoped. He'll be overpowered. She has the upper hand, and will knock him out cold in a matter of seconds. _Unless..._ Jason focuses on the wind and commands them to whirl around both of them. A miniature tornado begins to form.

He wills it to whirl around Reyna, who is then lifted a few feet off the ground and gasps in surprise.

"Jason! Jason! Stop! Jason!"

He stands proudly, and readjusts his grip on his lance, which has grown slick with sweat. He wills the tornado to spin faster and the air to carry her higher.

Reyna screams curses down at him. Jason runs the other way, towards the tower. He holds the tornado as long as he can, but then releases the winds and can sense them slowing to a stop behind him. His feet pound against the ground about as fast as he can hear his heart pounding in his chest. He leaps over fallen debris like a deer, careful not to trip over any more weapons.

Jason has no idea how Reyna gets to him so fast, but she must have catapulted herself with her spear. Or maybe it was just pure rage that fueled her, because before he knows it, he's face planted into the dirt with Reyna's arms wrapped around him. His nose stings and his neck aches. His mouth feels gritty with pieces of sand and rocks.

Reyna had tackled him to the ground. Her knees dig into his back. He groans in pain. When Jason breathes in through his nose he tastes the blood that drips into his mouth. He spits out blood and saliva covered pieces of sand. _That's it. I've had enough of this._ Jason thinks angrily.

He twists around so he's lying on his side and grabs her arm. He feels the electricity pulsing through his veins, each shock like miniature heartbeats as he burns her wrist. She cries out in pain, punching him in the cheek. She leans back on the ground and cradles her forearm in her hand.

Jason sees tears in her eyes, and he feels a horrible ache of guilt over hurting his friend. She did sort of deserve it, though. He gets up and holds his hand out to her.

"Look Rey, I'm sorry-"

Her eyes change for a split second. They flicker. The rings around both her irises and her pupil turn red. Then, just as quick, turn back to her normal dark color.

She says the next sentence slowly, and each word causes fear to ripple through him,"I'm going to count to three, and then I'm gonna-"

Jason doesn't wait for her to finish. He shoots off from the ground and up high into the air. He wipes at his bloody nose with the back of his hand and grasps his stinging arm. Warm blood runs between his fingers.

He thinks that he is safe in the air until he sees a flaming ball of rock flying towards him.

He wills all of the wind he can summon to whirl around him. He pushes his hands towards the ball of fire and the wind blasts the rock a few inches back from him. The fire from the rock is mostly extinguished. He wills the pressure from the air to push down on the rock, which falls to the ground a couple yards away.

Jason predicts it's safer on the ground and falls back to earth, letting the wind cushion his fall.

His eyes dart around frantically when his feet touch the ground. Where to go? He spots the tunnels. Bingo! Jason runs at top speed towards the trenches, tripping people from the Third Cohort with his lance as he goes. His shirt sticks to him with sweat, and he can feel the warm blood dripping off his chin. His arm stings from the wound.

Once he reaches the tunnels, he looks behind him to make sure no one is following, and slips into the tunnel. He steadies his breathing and rests for a few seconds, then begins to run again.

He hears someone say,"Jason went into the tunnel-"

Someone else mutters something and Jason starts to run faster.

Footsteps running behind him. Jason makes the mistake of turning around, and sees Reyna running after him. Her glowing Imperial gold spear lighting the dark tunnel.

Jason curses out loud. He stops running and turns around. He laughs like a lunatic. His lance crackles with electricity, and he must have a pretty crazy look in his eyes because Reyna hesitates for a few seconds, her spear lowered slightly.

"Jason, don't-"

_BOOM!_ The whole tunnel shakes, then cracks start to form in the roof of the trench. The last thing he remembers before he gets knocked out is Reyna pushing him out of the way.

* * *

><p>"Jason. Jason. Wake up." Reyna says. Her voice sounds distant. A stinging feeling flashes across his cheek. Jason has a sudden wave of fear sweep over him, but he doesn't know why.<p>

"Mother of fauns!" Jason screams, bolting upright. The blood rushes to his head and he leans back against the rock wall for support, waiting for the throbbing in his head to subside.

"Did you just... Slap me?" He asks, rubbing his cheek.

"Well, yeah. I had to wake you up somehow." Reyna shrugs.

Jason touches his nose tentatively, which has stopped bleeding. His nostrils, mouth, and chin is covered with mostly dried blood. He looks at his left arm, which throbs and stings at the same time. Reyna must have wrapped it, because there's a purple cloth wrapped around his arm. He notices that the sleeves of his camp shirt have been ripped off.

"Why didn't you use your own shirt to bandage my arm?"

"You look better without sleeves." Reyna said, shrugging.

"I do?"

"Yeah. And I didn't want to tear my lucky shirt."

Jason nods. He didn't know she had a lucky shirt, or even believed in luck for that matter.

That's when he takes a look around him for the first time. He jumps so badly that he kicks Reyna and bumps his head on the stone.

"Ow! What is it, Jason?"

Jason can't talk. He looks around him in fear. They are trapped under rubble. The cramped space makes Jason unable to breathe. When he's trapped somewhere, especially underground, he gets claustrophobic. That's why he wants to be cremated when he dies.

There's probably only about ten feet to move around in, and he sees no sky above them. Only earth, rocks, and dirt trapping them on all sides.

The space seems to be closing in on him. The room spins and he feels dizzy, as if the ground has turned to waves under his feet. He feels like he's going to pass out again. Oh no, now he's going to throw up. He hopes that he doesn't barf on Reyna. That would suck.

"Whoa. Jason, are you okay? You look like you've just seen a Lar."

Jason shakes his head and the nauseous feeling still overtakes him. A numbness starts in his brain and goes throughout his body. Spinning, still spinning. Jason suddenly can't breathe and he finds himself hyperventilating.

"Hey, Jason? Jason! What's wrong," Reyna looks at him with worry and fear. He looks up at her with wide eyes. Tears overtake his vision, and without closing his eyes, tears stream down his face.

He starts sobbing uncontrollably. His nose runs and cheeks feel burning hot.

Jason drops his head in his hand. She takes his other hand in hers and sits close to him so their shoulders are touching.

"Jason, I can't help you if you won't talk to me." Reyna whispers softly, as if talking to a wounded demigod on the brink of death, trying to calm them in their last moments.

"C-Claustrophobic. Something a-as endless as the sky can't be confined. It g-goes insane or s-something." Is all he manages to get out, because his voice is shaking so badly.

Tremors take him over. He shivers as if he'd been thrown in the North Pole wearing nothing but shorts. Jason keeps hyperventilating. No air. He can not get enough air. His heart is pounding too fast.

He's not getting enough blood to his brain and he's paralyzed with fear. His vision goes funny, and everything goes blurry. Oh crap, now he is going blind, too. He can only see what's right in front of him. He can't see to the sides. What is it called? Tunnel vision?

"Okay. Come here, lie down." Reyna says calmly. She puts his head in her lap, and this helps Jason's heart calm down the tiniest bit. Reyna runs her fingernails through his hair. It might actually feel sort of nice, if Jason wasn't sobbing and hyperventilating like a child who had a freak encounter with the Boogeyman.

Jason tries to calm down a bit. His breathing becomes a little steadier, but still is very uneven. He no longer feels dizzy, but his head still throbs and he's still shaking but has stopped sobbing. Now, tears just fall from his cheeks into Reyna's dust covered armor.

"Put your first two fingers on my wrist. Feel my heartbeat?" Reyna asks, putting his fingers over her wrist where her pulse is. Jason feels the steady beat of her heart. So relaxed compared to his which is sure to beat out of his chest. He nods yes.

"Good. Now, close your eyes. You're laying on the grass looking up at the clouds. Do you feel the cold wind on your face? The moon is full, and there are a couple of stars out but you can't really see them because of the clouds. Focus on my heartbeat. Match your breathing to it." Reyna says in her soft voice.

Jason feels the rough of her wrist, where he had burned her with electricity earlier. He focuses on the sky in his mind, and sees the moon, and feels the cool air that Reyna was describing to him.

"Sorry I hurt you."

"It's okay. I'm sorry about your nose. It's not broken is it?"

"No."

"Good... Maybe we shouldn't take the War Games so seriously from now on."

Jason half smiles and nods, "That would be good."

"So we're okay."

"Yeah. I won't be sucking you into tornadoes anytime soon."

Reyna laughs softly at this.

He shivers again and feels sweat break out on his hairline. But, she keeps stroking his head anyway. They're both silent. Jason listens to her steady breathing. He keeps his eyes shut and imagines they're sitting in green grass in the middle of the night. That the Titan War is over, and they're together. As in _together _together. Somehow, the fantasy helps him feel like he has a better grip on reality.

"Sorry you have to see me like this." Jason says. He feels pathetic, embarrassed, and stupid all at the same time. Especially in front of Reyna, who isn't afraid of anything.

"Sshh. It's perfectly fine. What is a hero without fear?" Reyna asks. She brushes his cheek, then returns to scratching his head. Jason sighs almost contentedly.

"A pretty great one." Jason mutters, turning his head away from her. His fingers are still on her wrist, and he relaxes and tries to breathe slowly, in time with her heartbeat.

"You're so wrong," Reyna mutters. Jason looks up at her in confusion through his tears which are now drying on his cheeks. "Heroes who are too afraid to admit that they have fears are not true heroes. Real heroes are those who accept their fears, and face it head on in order to overcome it. It's more cowardly to lie and not admit that you're afraid, and braver to say that you are and come to terms with your fears. It's even braver when you try to defeat them."

"That's sort of- I don't know- deep."

"Thank you."

"Welcome. How long do you think we're going to be stuck here? What if they never find us?"

"Don't be stupid. They saw the tunnel collapse. I'll bet they're already trying to get us out right now."

The thought of being stuck in here makes Jason feel dizzy again, but his heart seems to be fine and not as jumpy as before. He might actually be sort of comfortable.

He suddenly asks,"How?"

"How what?"

"How did you know how to calm me down?"

"Oh. My sister would do that whenever I was scared or nervous. Except she'd always braid my hair. I don't know why. Maybe because it gave her something to do."

Jason's breathing has slowed down to her heart rate, and Jason figures that as long as he doesn't open his eyes, he'll be okay.

"Thank you, Reyna." Jason whispers. His fingers slide down to hers, where he laces their hands and holds fast while her other hand rests on his temple.

They wait for a while, until help arrives to clear the debris. Which eventually, it does.


	19. Unsettled

**Sorry the update took so long. I've been so busy with family and then my 4-H stuff (and I sort of got sucked in to this one television show called Smallville). But I'm back now. Anyway, this chapter is probably the most mature chapter yet. Let me know what you think! **

_Whoosh. Thunk. Whoosh. Thunk._ Reyna throws dagger after dagger into the dartboard from her praetor's chair until it makes a mediocre J. She sits back and scratches the automations behind their ears.

One of them lets out a low, depressed groan.

"I miss him, too." She says to the greyhound as she pats its head.

The door to the _principia_ opens and Reyna grabs the rest of the knives beside her and thrusts them at the dartboard so that the J doesn't look like a J any longer. She doesn't want anyone thinking that she misses Jason although she does. Terribly.

To her surprise it's Octavian who enters. He shoves both doors aside and strides in as if he's a king.

"I'm glad you're here Octavian. I was looking for someone to use as target practice." Reyna says with an edge to her voice as she stands and walks around the table that stands in the center of the room.

Octavian tsks in disapproval, "Now what would the Senate say if they heard you say that?"

"They won't."

"We'll see."

His wild, manic eyes seem to pierce through hers. As if he's searching through her soul. A cold shiver washes through her.

"What is it you want?" She demands stiffly.

He shrugs and stuffs his skinny hands in his oversized pockets. Octavian walks around her in a circle, as a vulture circles dying prey. He's making her very uncomfortable.

"Honestly," Octavian says, stopping behind her and dropping his voice to a murmur. "I want to find out what makes you tick. To find your fatal flaw. Your _greatest_ weakness. The one that will cause you to fall..."

He grabs the back of her neck with his bony fingertips. Reyna's eyes widen in fear. Sweat beads form on her hairline. Maybe if she turns around quick enough she'll be able to puke all over his smug little face. Because she feels as if she's gong to vomit any second.

Leaning in close to her ear, Octavian's hot breath makes her shudder away from him,"and I to rise."

She doesn't show any sign of emotion on her face nor will she let it show in her voice. Reyna's not going to give Octavian the satisfaction of seeing the fear that is fluttering in her stomach.

"Well, it's not hard to tell your fatal flaw now is it? Your hunger for power drives you to the verge of insanity. It's what makes you unstable. And all those death threats and blackmailing you do to everyone hides what you really are inside," Reyna turns around so that they're nose to nose. He releases her neck. "An insecure, scared little _futui usque catellus._"

Octavian scowls darkly. She glances down and sees his hand placed on his ceromonial knife. The automations, who have been sitting quietly, stand and wait patiently with their ears flattened against their heads, as if ready to attack at any given moment.

He walks in front of her and when she turns to face him, he grabs her wrists with his hands. She backs away from him and feels the small of her back touch the table. Octavian pins her wrists against the edge of the wood. His grip is like iron and hurts as they're pressed against the side of the table. She begins to lose feeling in her fingertips.

"I wouldn't say such things if I were you, praetor." He spits. His breath reeks in her face.

He leans closer to her until she can almost feel the cold of his lips against her neck. It causes her to shudder and her heart to stop. Not in a good way.

Reyna knows that if she tells him to stop that he will. But he will also know that he's succeeded in unhinging her. That he has found one of her greatest fears: Being powerless. And fears, as everyone knows, are the first step to uncovering flaws. If he uncovers her fatal flaw, then that would give him the key to becoming praetor. If he became praetor, well, she imagines that he would run this camp much like Saturn would have run the world.

"What's wrong? Are you... Uncomfortable?" He teases.

Yes. She is very uncomfortable. Every single molecule of her being is in self defense mode. She wants so badly to fight back but she doesn't because he will make up some sort of lie and get her into serious trouble.

All she can really think of is Jason. How, if Jason were here she would be safe. That this would not be happening to her if he were here. She has never felt a need for anyone but her sister. But suddenly, Reyna feels as if she needs Jason by her side this very instant. To protect her. She doesn't know what Octavian will do next.

Reyna gets the feeling that she's about to cry. When your throat closes up and your eyes smart and your chest squeezes. Her heart pounds fast in her chest and blood pumps in her ears. She can almost smell Blackbeard's breath. Can almost feel the rocking of the ship beneath her. These thoughts jolt through her and suddenly she's twelve years old again and back in Blackbeard's clutches.

Back on the ship that smells of decay and men who haven't washed in over two hundred years. Back against the railing of the deck where his crew teased her. The dull and rusted sword she had found underneath some old sacks and barrels felt slippery in her hands. They made lewd gestures and crude remarks. Asking her that if she thinks she's so brave, then why doesn't she walk the plank. The weapon then slipped from her hands and clattered to the deck.

She had felt powerless. The moment of dauntlessness she had been given to wield that sword had been leached from her. Then there was only the realization that she couldn't do it. She couldn't have done it even if she wanted to. She couldn't take on the seven men laughing at her. Because they would have killed her before she could have killed them.

This is how Reyna feels now. Extremely and utterly hopeless. Tears trickle down her face. Octavian presses his lips to her neck. She can feel him smile. Reyna thinks about what's best for the camp and this is the one thing that causes her to stay absolutely still and not fight back as her instincts tell her. The fact that she _has_ to protect this camp. It is her job. She isn't supposed to give in and tell him her fatal flaw out of fear. Reyna will show him how strong she really is. She'll prove him wrong. That he _cannot_ shake her.

Her muscles are ice. Her throat and eyes are on fire from trying to hold back her sobs and tears. She wants to scream so badly. A low, deep growl registers from the greyhounds behind her.

Octavian's slimy tongue presses against her skin. He's just toying with her now. Seeing how long it takes for her to break. To crack under the pressure. Under her emotions. But she won't. She will not show weakness. Because it's when you're at your weakest when you must be your strongest. Her nails dig into the wood, or she thinks they do. She has lost feeling in not only her hands and wrists but her whole body.

Reyna almost throws up. She thinks of the times Jason sat with her when she was sick, and when she sat with him. The memory is just mockery to her now.

How she wishes Jason would barge through the doors right now, see the tears in her eyes, and then beat Octavian within an inch of his life and make him swear on the River Styx not to touch her again. She wants to run to him and have his golden tan arms wrap her in a strong embrace. She wants to bury her head in his shirt and inhale his scent and thank him again and again for saving her. Reyna wants to look into those bright blue eyes just to be reassured that everything is alright.

The most pathetic thing is, she half expects him to walk through that door.

Aurum and Argentum's snarls seem to reverberate off the walls. She can hear their feet clicking against the marble. Their snarls grow more ominous and threatening. Reyna has never heard them like this before. If she hadn't known they were trying to protect her, she would have been scared out of her wits and ran out the door by now.

They stand in front of her, as they wait for her command. Their blood red eyes seem to be fixed on Octavian. Razor sharp needlelike teeth bared menacingly. She mouths a command to them in Latin._ Sick 'em._ They, of course, go straight for his butt.

Reyna hears a rip and Octavian pulls away from her and releases her wrists, which have lost all feeling in them. She lets out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Her head pounds and she feels weak from the lack of oygen.

He runs around in a circle, trying to shake the dogs off, but Argentum snarls and bites his ankle, drawing blood. Octavian yelps and almost trips as he runs out the door. He gives her one last, quick look that says, _This isn't over. _Then he dashes away with the dogs nipping at his heels.

Reyna slides to the floor and rubs the feeling back into her hands. She knows that she should be fine, but she has the oddest feeling. Like she's still cold and numb all over but still burning with anger inside.

The greyhounds return a few minutes later, and she's sure that they chased him all the way to his cohort. Reyna smiles although she's trembling like crazy. She can barely stroke their heads without her hands shaking.

Reyna hugs them as they nuzzle into her and try to make her feel safe again. Because they're her protectors, and that's their job. They only halfway succeeded in making her feel completely safe. Because there is still Octavian's threat looming over her head. What scared her the most, though, was how he knew that coming on to her like that would scare her more than any death threat. Was it because he knew about her past? Reyna wouldn't be surprised if he did.

She's so happy for the automations being by her side. They were good dogs, and they did a great job at protecting her and making her feel safe, which she praises them for.

Except for the fact that Jason would have done better.


	20. Doubts

Jason walks past the statues and- well, temples on Temple Hill, but stops short when he someone standing in the temple of Bellona. He smiles to himself and walks inside.

The temple of Bellona is nothing extraordinary. Above the door is a crossed sword and torch. Inside, it's a square room. The walls are made of some sort of rough stone. It's painted a deep burgundy and has pictures of war and destructon on it. Cities burning, people screaming. Gruesome battle depictions. It always gives Jason a creepy feeling in here. And his mood always shifts slightly. He has the smallest want to destroy something, or pick a fight.

The floor is made of dark marble with veins of white, gold, and brown through it. Each side of the temple is probably only about ten feet in length. So it isn't very big. Candles are lit along a small golden altar. Behind that is a five foot statue of Bellona herself. With a helmet on her head and a spear in her hand. Reyna is standing in the middle of the room. Her back turned to him. Jason wonders if she even heard him come in. He knocks on the doorframe.

"Hey." He says brightly.

"Go away!" She says sternly. He notices the tremor in her voice. His heart sinks sadly.

Jason takes a few steps towards her, "What's w-"

"Do _not_ ask me what's wrong! Like you'd even understand anyway! Did you not hear me? I told you to leave!" Reyna yells at him. He wonders if she's shaking with anger or if she's so upset it's causing her to tremble. Jason huffs in anger and crosses his arms. Like he's leaving anytime soon.

Reyna growls in frustration and throws her dagger towards him. He sees a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. Jason yells in terror and hits the deck. The dagger is mere inches away from where his head had been moments before.

Once his heart has relaxed enough and he has convinced himself he isn't about to be killed, Jason stands up and turns to leave. He pries Reyna's dagger from the wall and puts it in his belt loop.

"Give me back my dagger." She says silently.

"Only if you tell me what's wrong. Or else I might have to hide it from you."

"I could find it anyway. I'm a human weapon detector, remember?"

"You won't want to touch it once I'm done with it. I might just pee on it." Jason threatens, only halfway joking.

"You wouldn't."

"If that's what it takes for you to tell me what's wrong, I most definitely will."

"I'm still not telling. You just... Wouldn't..."

"Maybe I'd understand if you give me the chance." He whispers.

Reyna shakes her head, "Why do you hang out with people like me? Like Dakota and Hazel? Why the people who don't fit in? You could have any friend in the world- any girl in the world, but you choose us. Why is that? Why is it so much easier for you to turn down things that are offered to you? Why turn down power and luxury and all the best things in the world that people would give an arm and a leg to have? I mean, you're the son of Jupiter. If you wanted to you could rule the world."

Jasoon walks closer to her until they're standing side by side. She looks at him slowly. Her face is streaked with tears and her eyes glisten with them. Even in the candlelight her eyes look puffy. Besides the tears and pain, she looks sort of pretty in the candlelight. Reyna's light skin glows golden and her eyes seem black as an endless tunnel.

"If I wanted to rule the world, then I would have joined Saturn."

"But why didn't you?"

"Why didn't _you_? Your mom fought against the Olympians. Remember when you told me that you kept having dreams of your mom. How she tried to convince you how much better it would be if the demigods ruled and the gods were overthrown? We both know you find it harder to turn down power-"

"Because of you," Reyna says forcefully. Fresh tears gleam in her eyes. Jason's suddenly taken aback. "And because of this _camp_. And my _friends_ as well. Because I couldn't join their side and look into your- their eyes- and see the disappointment in them. I couldn't stand it if you just turned your back on me. If you said that maybe you were wrong about me and maybe you didn't know me after all. I actually truly considered it once. Joining the other side. And it was scary. I- I never want to feel like that again. To feel lost."

Jason wipes her tears away with his thumb. It's automatic. He doesn't even have to think about it. Once he realizes what he's done, he tears his hand away from her face and puts it down at his side. He hadn't ever known that Reyna had ever actually thought of joining the Titans in the War. The thought makes him scared, and he wonders what else there was that he doesn't know about Reyna that he should.

They stay that way for a moment. Unsure of what to do next. What to say next. Butterflies swirl in Jason's stomach. When her tears begin to flow down her cheeks again, he takes her face in his hands and wipes them away with his fingers once more. Although the tears are gone, he still traces her cheekbone. Her face is expressionless.

Reyna's hands wrap around his wrists. He stops what he's doing immediately. She shakes her head and pulls away from him.

"Don't." She says, stepping away from him.

"I'm sorry, I just..." Jason closes his eyes and clenches his jaw. Why did he do that? Why the hell did he do that? He knew she was going to pull away. Maybe it was because he thought she wouldn't.

"You never answered my question. Why do you hang out with us misfits?" Reyna walks towards the door, then turns on her heel. Awaiting his answer.

Jason looks down at the ground and scuffs his shoe. He shrugs nonchalantly, "Because... It makes me feel normal. When you're the son of Jupiter. No one likes you for you. They just want to be with you because- well, you know- you're the son of Jupiter. You have _no_ idea how many girls have come onto me to just say they've been with- or kissed, or dated the only living son of Jupiter. The 'Child of the Prophecy'-"

"And let me explain to you why they don't come around when I'm with you. See, I overheard some... people... talking today. And that's what lead me here. They said that... Jason, they think we've been together."

"Wait, wait, wait. As in _dating, _right?_" _Jason edges closer to her.

_"_No. They think we've actually been, you know,_ together_. Anyway, I heard them talking about- about what they really think we do in the _principia_," Reyna stops and tears fill her eyes again. "They said that who was I to deserve you? Who was I when my mother fought for the Titans? Why would someone like you choose to hang out with someone as- as low on the totem pole as me. And I realized that it's true. I'm nothing compared to you. You- who is everything good in the world. Everything optimistic. When compared to _me_. With a goddess for a mom no one even pays attention to. Ask any elementary school kid or even a great professor who Bellona is. No one knows about her because no one cares about her. I'm not _anything_. I'm _just_ another minor demigod! No special, amazing powers. Just an antisocial girl who was rude and short with everyone when she first came here. But when I became praetor, suddenly I became this important person. Just because I held the title. And now with these rumors that Octavian's throwing around about us being in the bathhouse together and getting to third base in the dungeon and how I- I don't even know how I'm able to make eye contact with you. I don't deserve to even know you like I do. I'm like a queen from a small country and you're like the ruler of the world... Do you even _know_ how hard it is to be friends with someone who is walking perfection-"

"I do," Jason cuts in. He takes both of her hands in his, hoping she gets the message that he's talking about her. She cocks her head to the side. Trying to see if he's being truthful. "And for the record... You were always important to me. And always will be."

They stand in the doorway of the temple. Reyna runs one hand through his hair and puts the other on his shoulder. He feels electricity crackle on his empty palms. He presses them on either side of her, against the doorway to keep them from shaking and sparking up again. Jason steps closer to Reyna.

His heart is doing somersaults like crazy. Reyna leans forward and his mind screams _Yes! Yes! Yes! _electric currents pass through them. Which is all Jason's fault. This happens when he has a huge surge of adrenaline or his overactive brain is going crazy. Which it is. Jason leans in closer until he can taste her breath. He has wanted this for so long. And now, _finally_, he gets to kiss her. Jason can't help but smile and think all of this waiting is worth it. Definitely worth it. Then suddenly she-

"Holy mother _irrumabo_!" Someone, who Jason immediately identifies as Dakota, screams. They jump apart immediately.

Dakota stands there with a look on his face that, in different circumstances, would have been hilarious. His flask, which he never let's go of, falls to the ground slowly and splatters the dirt with red liquid.

He looks between them for about a minute. He looks like a deer in the headlights. Then, quick as a flash Dakota's running down the hill and screaming, "Gwen! Gwen! Oh my freaking gods! You have no idea what I just saw! Holy Tartarus!"

Jason and Reyna look to each other with the same expression of fear on their faces. Reyna grabs her dagger from Jason's belt and steals the coin from his pocket then begins to run after Dakota in a war-like scream Jason was sure Saturn himself would have been afraid of.

"Reyna! Reyna! Wait! Don't kill him! Reyna!" Jason charges after her. Willing the winds to carry him faster.

By the time he gets there, Reyna has Dakota pinned to the ground with his arms behind his back and her knife and his sword crossed in an X against the back of his neck. Jason runs his hands through his hair and covers his face with his hands in fear as Reyna threatens Dakota with curses and the whole 'if he wants kids when he's older he won't breathe a word to anyone about what he saw' speech.

Yep. Just a normal day at Camp Jupiter.


	21. Scars

**Thank you for all of your amazing reviews! This song was inspired by the song "Scars" by Papa Roach. I don't own it. I don't own Heroes of Olympus either.**

"How'd you get that scar on your lip?" Reyna asks out of curiosity.

They're cleaning the weapons in the armory. Polishing them until they sparkle. Rearranging the stacks of armor and helmets and swords. They have to make sure they're neat and orderly or else Vitellius will have a fit.

Unlike most people, Reyna actually sort of likes the armory. She likes looking at all the old swords and shields and artifacts. She always wonders what heroes used which weapons, and what monsters and emperors were slain with them. Reyna wishes the weapons could speak. That they would be able to transport you back in time once you touched them and show you their history. She'd love to see the battles they've seen.

"I honestly don't know. I guess I was just born with it."

Reyna rolls her eyes and looks over at him,"No one's _born_ with scars. They're created. I don't really see why people flip out over their scars and try to cover them up and stuff. I think scars define a person better. It makes them more beautiful."

Jason looks at her as if she'd been blabbering in Greek.

"What?" She snaps.

"How do you think someone's scars make them more... beautiful?"

Reyna shakes her head. It makes sense in her mind, but she just can't put it into words.

"Never mind." She sighs, exasperated and bristling with annoyance.

Reyna picks up a dented wristwatch and slaps its surface. The wristwatch opens like a camera shutter, spiraling outward until it's a full shield.

The shield is Celestial bronze. It was found by a few demigods on a scouting mission to spy on Saturn's base. They'd decided to ditch their responsibilities and go take a tour of Alcatraz island, where they found the wristwatch shield. The only reason Reyna knows this is because her friend's boyfriend had been the one to find it. Some child of Vulcan fixed it up and put it in the armory.

Reyna looks at the thin layer of dust on the bronze surface. Then she looks past it and studies the images etched on the metal. There was a Cyclopes riding what looked like a horse with a fish tail, and a girl fighting a giant. As well as a boy fighting bulls on a hill. The images leave a bad feeling in her stomach. As if it's owner were her enemy. The faces on the shield _did_ look familiar... Reyna snaps herself out of her thoughts. She forces herself not to think about the creepy watch-shield anymore.

"Would you polish it?" Reyna asks.

"Um, sure. I guess." Jason gives her an odd sort of look, then takes the shield from her.

"Gods. That shield gives me the creeps." She mutters.

"Why? It seems fine to me," Jason says. "It's not cursed is it?"

"How would I know?"

He shrugs,"Well, can't you sense curses and stuff?"

"Well, on weapons kind of. But no, I can't. My sister can, though."

"Because of the training with the creepy witch lady thing?"

"If you call Circe a creepy witch lady one more time I'm going to sew your mouth shut in your sleep."

"Did I say creepy witch? I meant kind and caring sorceress."

"That's what I thought you said." Reyna smirks at him.

Jason smiles back and her heart seems to stutter. She quickly asks him a question before she loses herself in those endless, stupid, beautiful eyes of his.

"How do you think you got your scar?"

Reyna drops her gaze and goes back to stacking helmets. She blows the dust off one and awaits his answer.

"I think it was a monster. Maybe a empousa tried to kiss me when I was three. Who knows? What about you? Any scars you care to show?"

"Oh, you _wish _I had scars to show to you," Reyna winks at him playfully. He gets what she means immediately and blushes a deep pink color. "Sadly, most of my scars are emotional, psychological, and metaphorical. They aren't really scars anyway. Just old wounds that reopen whenever I have nightmares."

"That sounds depressing." Jason comments. Reyna shrugs.

"It's a part of life. Everyone has scars, but that's what makes them stronger. It's what makes them tougher. What I meant to say earlier was that everyone wants to hide their scars because they're afraid it makes them look ugly. When in reality they should be proud of their scars. A person's scars aren't just an ugly mark. To me, at least, scars show us our inner strength. It shows us our instinct to keep moving on in the most difficult times. That we can survive those difficult times. Scars are what make us- us. What would you be without that scar on you lip? Just another pretty, flawless, son of Venus-looking demigod. What would I be without scars? I'd be back at Circe's island being pampered and catered to. We should be proud of our scars. Both inside and out."

Jason presses the button on the shield and it turns back into a wristwatch.

"You know Reyna, you're really pretty when you give mini pep talks like that. I never thought of scars that way."

"I didn't used to either. Then I realized that scars will always be there. Why hate them when you could love them?"

His eyes glisten softly. He cocks his head to the side and gives her a look he's never given her before. It's a combination of newfound respect and admiration. And love. That too.

She looks down at the watch in his hand because she really does like the look he's giving her right now. It makes her toes tingle. Reyna feels warm and fuzzy inside. Funny, she doesn't usually feel fuzzy. But, that seems the best way to describe it. She doesn't feel solid. Reyna just feels _here_. She feels like she's floating in space. Like Jason and her are both constellations. Almost like there's too much space between them. Still, Reyna feels like she's suspended above the world. Even if it is just for a moment.

She takes the mysterious watch from his hand and places it on the table. Then she gives Jason a passionate hug and holds him tightly because at the moment it's all she can do to keep herself from kissing him. And she certainly didn't want that to happen.


	22. Vague

****Hello, fellow Jeyna shippers. Did you miss me? Sorry about the hiatus. I'm back now,** though. **

Sometimes, when he first wakes up, Jason has to remind himself of the person he is. Sometimes the cloud of amnesia that had wrapped around his brain his first days at Camp Half-Blood hovers over his head again. Hera had promised his memories would come back, but also that the process would be slow. His memories mostly came in dreams, trickling in bit by bit, and filling him with a sense of purpose. A reminder of his old life. A life he knows, deep down, that he can never return to.

* * *

><p>There are days when he wakes up with a smile on his lips and love flooding through him. This love is replaced by thoughts of Piper, and then a confusion that is almost overwhelming to him. Love and war, Greeks and Romans, beauty and the beast. These things do not go hand in hand. Jason doesn't care what anyone says. Some combinations are deadly. Such as he and this Percy Jackson guy being switched.<p>

Jason knows that he and Piper are a deadly combination as well. Yet secretly, he doesn't care. Maybe he _wants_ to be a part of something deadly and something dangerous, after always sticking to the rules his whole life. Just one small hint of a rebellion to make him feel freer. Not just some puppet on a string that the gods use for their entertainment.

And Piper does make him feel free. She is as careless as the wind, and as innocent as a budding flower. Her smile is the sun and her eyes are the rainbow. She likes to run barefoot when they play tag in the forest and swim in the canoe lake with him as the sun casts sparkling diamonds on the water. When he leans in to kiss her, something within him stirs and a nagging feeling deep in the recesses of his heart, of his soul tell him _no_.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what part is telling him to not love Piper. It is the fragment of his heart, the shard of his soul that Reyna keeps of him. If Piper is a rose without thorns, then Reyna is a dandelion. She is a dead weed that has burrowed deep in a shaded corner of his heart. This dandelion does not grow. It does not spread it's seeds and fill his heart with undying love for the daughter of war. It simply stays. As a reminder of his Roman origins. A spark of something else. An untouchable dream, an impossible wish that will not be granted.

* * *

><p>Jason sometimes wonders if a new praetor has already been elected. Maybe this new praetor was a striking, gentle, and respectable son of Venus. It could be possible that he and Reyna were together. Maybe at this very moment they were in a house that used to be Jason's house, and laying in a bed that used to be his bed. Their bare legs are probably tangled in sheets and her head is most likely resting on the child of love's muscled chest. Their fingers laced together and the early sun gently kissing their faces and causing Reyna's long, obsidian hair to shimmer in the light.<p>

Has this son of Venus placed kisses on her neck and touched the small of her back? Doing what Jason had wanted to do so many times before? Had he kissed her long and slow in the pouring rain like Jason wished he could have? Had he smelled her vanilla scented hair when it tickled his nose as it had Jason's thousands of times when they hugged? Or did he ever see those rare moments when her frightening eyes changed to glistening orbs of dark brown that seemed to smile with amusement? Has he even heard her laugh? He must have. He shouldn't have, though. Love and war are a dangerous combination. These things do not go hand in hand.

(Then again, neither does a son of Jupiter and a daughter of Aphrodite)

When he thinks of these disgusting fantasies, anger burns through him. It is an inferno of rage, blazing through him like a wildfire. It burns so long and so brightly that he begins to fear it will never be extinguished. That he will never be at peace again.

To get himself through it, Jason reminds himself of what he knows is true. He does this by looking back on his dreams. He hadn't seen this imaginary son of Venus. He hasn't even heard Reyna mention him in her dreams. Yes, sometimes, as one dream switches to another, he would see Reyna's sleeping silhouette. Her face was shadowed by the dark of her bedroom. Not once had he seen another figure sleeping beside her. Besides, of course, Aurum and Argentum.

(What he doesn't see are the dark circles under her eyes, and how her lips form his name in her dreams. Nor does he see the tears that have carved their way down her face as she fell asleep).

* * *

><p>There will be one night, months from now, that he will wake up with a start. His body will be coated in a thin layer of sweat as cold as ice and tears will prick his eyes like needles. Jason will tremble as he pulls the blanket tighter around him and grit his teeth to keep from screaming. From cursing the gods.<p>

The dream he will have will be of Reyna and Octavian. Where he'll kiss her neck and his tongue will graze her skin. In which Reyna will dig her nails into the wooden table her hands are pinned to. He will scream at Octavian and try to run to Reyna's rescue. There will be an invisible wall in his way that he cannot move. And all Jason will be able to do is watch in horror.

He will slide to the ground and end up with his head in his hands, his body shaking, and tears streaming down his face. Unable to turn away from the sight in front of him, he will be too shocked to move. When he sees Reyna's jaw set defiantly and her eyes filled to the brim with tears, Jason's heart will feel like it's shattering. He will hear a terrible snarling and then awake from the nightmare.

Jason will curl up with his back against the cold marble wall, hiding from the view of the large statue of his father in Greek form. And for the first time since being at Camp, he will feel like a prisoner. It's one of those few times in his life that he'll feel truly, completely helpless.

All he will be able to do is sob. Knowing that there had been nothing he could do to protect Reyna from that horrible snake. She could have easily fought back. Why hadn't she, then?

He will cry so hard and so long that eventually he'll feel like throwing up and have a splitting headache. His skin will be heated to the point he'll believe he's running a fever.

Jason will wish that he could go back to a time- gods it will seem like eternities away- when things were good. A time and a dream where he wove flowers through her hair that were not yet wilted, and their feet splashed in the current of a bright blue river whose waters had not yet boiled with anger or hate or malice and cruelty. Where they once danced in sunlit lands bathed in gold, before the sun had darkened and the lands had turned to ashes and rubble around them.

These times of childhood, of innocence, will be long gone for the both of them. It had been gone for the both of them the moment he'd been placed at the Wolf House, or for Reyna, when the pirates overran Circe's island. From then on, he will realize, they had been turned into puppets. They had been brought up like warriors. Their lives were not easy. It never had been. Their short span of childhood was an unattainable butterfly that had flitted just out of their reach.

_Do not cry. You are not alone, little one._ Lupa had told him when he was a child. This quote will replay in his mind as he thinks of how lost and isolated and alone he truly feels.

This is not a lie, though. The great silver she-wolf almost always spoke the truth. There were people like him. Demigods like him. Ones that had bcome lost and confused along the road. Ones that had let the darkness in. Like the one son of Hermes who had hosted Kronos.

_Do not accept the darkness when you are lost in it. Wait for the sun. Look to the stars. If you find the light again, follow it. It will guide you home. _Lupa had also told him. She told him this a day before he left for Camp Jupiter. And he did exactly that. As a child, he had took the saying literally. But now that he's older, he will understand it's real meaning.

* * *

><p>Eventually, hours later, Jason will find sleep again. He will rest his head against the wall and close his eyes. As he's drifting off he will hear Reyna's voice, muddled with sleep, in his head.<p>

_"Don't leave me alone. Swear."_

_"Okay, Reyna. I swear... I swear."_

His eyes will open fretfully as he will realize all too late he broke his promise. He did leave her alone. He is thousands of miles away. At a camp that was supposedly a safe place, a place he should call home. If he was there he could have saved her.

"I'm sorry. That I broke my promise." Jason will tell the empty cabin. His words will be simple, but he'll mean every syllable. They'll be shaky and thick with emotion but he won't care. He will hope, wish, _pray_ that Reyna will hear his words. One way or another.

(What he doesn't know is that as Reyna's sleeping, she_ will_ hear his words. She'll misinterpret them entirely).

To her, she will think he means that he'll never leave her again. That he will return for her.

But his true meaning will be far from her preconceived notion. On the surface, it will seem he's sorry for leaving her. For not saving her. But deep within that first apology will be a second. An apology that in the future he will choose Piper to be with instead of her.


	23. Kiss

**Oh my gods. Has it been four months since I updated? I feel like a terrible person. Time goes by too fast. (Is it seriously April?) Please excuse my absence. I kind of stumbled willingly back into the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit fandom... (It was one of my first. Yes, I was a seven year-old LotR nerd. In case you were wondering). **

**Oh! And I was introduced to Tumblr! So that sort of... took up a lot of my time too. I'm back in PJO for the time being. And don't worry about Rick Riordan' s Jeyna tweet. Just because they weren't together doesn't mean they** **won't have any cute scenes/flashbacks in the House of Hades. **

"Have you ever had a girlfriend?" Reyna asks. The question just sort of slips out.

Reyna blushes and looks out over the dark countryside. New Rome glistens with lights so it looks like a city made of stars. The Little Tiber sparkles with tiny droplets of silver from the moon as it snakes through the camp.

She shifts awkwardly on the marble bench in the Garden of Bacchus. The statue of a wine god in a tutu spouts water that changes color every few seconds. Throwing a multicolored glow on the surrounding flowers and grapevine trellises.

Jason's eyebrows crease and he gives her a questioning glance. The glow from the fountain washes one side of his face with luminous colors that change and meld together like the surface of a diamond. He looks iridescent.

"Not exactly. I mean... THere are girls I've kissed. Girls that I've gone on a few dates with and girls that have professed their undying love for me. But I don't think I _need_ a girlfriend right now. I'm fine being single."

Jealousy burns through her. _There are girls I've kissed._ He'd said. This sentence bugs her to no end.

"How many have you kissed?" She asks suddenly. Her voice is filled with acidity. Reyna's eyes bore into his. Jason flinches.

"I don't really know. I've kissed quite a few people. I had my first kiss when I was... Nine? But it was on the cheek, so..."

"Who... Who was it?" Reyna asks. She tries her best not to sound annoyed or maybe even- fine. Maybe a little jealous.

"Gwen." He smiles.

"G-Gwen?" Reyna stammers.

"Yeah. I came back from my first quest. And Gwen was in guard duty that day. I was so tired that I sort of... Collapsed into her arms. And she picked me up and kissed me on the cheek. She was so excited to see me. So glad that I was safe."

Reyna relaxes and feels the anger begin to ebb.

"That's sweet." Reyna murmurs.

Jason nods and looks out at the city sadly. His voice is filled with pain and nostalgia, "She's like a mom to me. Always giving me advice and telling me what to do when I'm upset or confused. She always has been. She's the older sister I never got to know. The older sister I'll never _get_ to know."

Jason clenches his jaw and Reyna thinks she sees tears glaze over his eyes.

She can't imagine a life without her sister. Only having a vague memory of her and occasional dreams. It would be hell.

They're silent for a few moments. Listening to the sound of the fountain gurgling and the bugs buzzing in the garden. The silence begins to grow long and awkward. She waits for Jason to say something, but he doesn't. Eventually, Reyna can't stand the silence any longer.

"So... Who was your first _real_ kiss?" Reyna asks, trying to change the subject and break the silence between them.

Jason snorts, "I don't remember. I was thirteen. It was nice, though."

Reyna bristles with annoyance and gives a huff of disgruntlement, "Figures."

"What?" Jason sounds offended.

Good. He should be.

"Like father, like son. What else should I have suspected?" Reyna stands up and leans against the railing.

Of course Jason wouldn't remember the first girl, or how many girls, he'd kissed. Just like his dad. Who probably couldn't remember how many women he banged.

The cool wind plays with her hair and calms her down. She breathes in slowly and tries to quell her anger. The smell of the flowers and the grapes are overwhelmingly sweet.

"I didn't kiss her. She kissed me." Jason retorts.

He comes to stand beside her. His hand touches hers on the railing. Reyna yanks her hand away.

"Besides, I'm _nothing_ like my dad. In fact, he's the _last_ person I want to turn out to be."

Reyna analyzes his face carefully. He looks guilty, if not a little afraid.

"Then don't be." Reyna mutters.

Jason shakes his head. His hands grip the marble railing and he looks out over the moonlit valley.

"It's not that easy. I can feel it in my blood. That I _want_ power. And I have it. I mean, we're praetors aren't we? But... Sometimes I want more. Sometimes I feel like being praetor isn't enough."

Reyna's heart stammers. He'd never told her this before.

"And what stops you from getting that power?"

They both know that if he truly wanted power that badly then he would have it already. Sons of Jupiter were no small force to be dealt with when it came to getting what they wanted. Most of the time they were stubborn. But for some reason, Jason wasn't. He was different than the others.

"Octavian. That kid who hosted Saturn. They're good examples of what happens when you get that power. Once you get a bit of it, you want more and more until greed and anger have... changed you into a power vacum. I just don't want that to happen to me. I don't want to turn into a monster."

Her hand inches closer to his on the railing.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

Jason's sky blue eyes meet her obsidian ones.

"So... What about you," Jason asks slowly. "Have you ever kissed or been kissed by anyone?"

"Yeah... I- I have. Many times." Reyna lies cooly.

Aurum and Argentum, who are laying somewhere among the jasmine flowers and succulent plants, growl in disapproval.

"The greyhounds don't seem to agree with you. You wouldn't happen to be lying, would you Reyna?" Jason inquires.

She smiles coyly,"Of course not! I'd never lie to you, my fellow praetor."

The automatons growl even louder than before. Reyna snaps her fingers and they shut up immediately. She rolls her eyes at the dogs for blowing her cover.

"And my point is made," Jason chuckles and gestures to the dogs. "Seriously, though. Have you ever been kissed before?"

Reyna flushes again and crosses her arms. "What's it to you?"

Jason cocks his head to the side. A disgustingly adorable smile forms on his face. Reyna feels like her feet are melting through her shoes. Her knees quiver and suddenly don't seem able to support her weight. She turns away from Jason and goes to sit down on the cold bench. This doesn't help the trembling of her knees at all.

"You've _never_ been kissed before." He realizes, plopping down next to her.

"No, Jason. I haven't. Is it really that surprising? I mean I _was_ one of Circe's attendants for a few years. I hated boys. You know that."

"Well, yeah. It's just that you're so pretty, and-"

Reyna tries to hide the smile that breaks across her face.

"You- You think I'm pretty?"

"Uhh... I mean you're alright. You're pretty but you're not _really_ pretty. Oh crap that came out wrong," Jason sighs and slaps his forehead in frustration. "What I meant to say was that you're pretty but you're naturally pretty. You don't try to be pretty because you just sort of are."

Reyna grins sheepishly. The air seems warmer and the moon brighter.

"Really?"

"Reyna," Jason takes her hands in his and smiles brightly. "Do you hear the dogs growling? I sure don't. I wouldn't lie to you. I _won't_ ever lie to you."

The wind rustles his golden hair. Jason's tan skin glows from the multicolored water in the fountain. The colors dance off his eyes, which sparkle like sapphires.

"Would you like to be kissed?" He whispers seductively.

Reyna's tongue feels numb. She's unable to form words. She spurts out something along the lines of, "Guh... Nuh... I dunno."

He puts his hand under her chin and leans in slowly until she can feel his breath against her lips.

Her heart is beating way too fast and the night air is too hot around her. The smell of the flowers are dizzying. The bubbling of the fountain and the hissing of the bugs die away slowly until she can hear nothing but her own heartbeat.

Jason pauses. He doesn't pull away or move any closer.

"Hmm... No. I don't think you want to be kissed." Jason decides. He pulls away from her.

Reyna blinks a few times. The world turns back to normal. The night air is cool and refreshing again, and the fountain gurgles in her ears. The smell of the flowers suddenly aren't as strong as they once were.

"Stop that!" Reyna breathes.

"What? This?" Jason asks, leaning closer to her again.

His cheek brushes hers as he whispers enticingly in her ear,"You love it don't you? Admit it."

Jason purrs suggestively. Palms sweating, Reyna shoves him away from her. Her face feels like it's on fire.

He looks like he's trying hard not to laugh. Reyna scowls. He clears his throat and apologizes.

"I was only joking."

"Were you?" Reyna arches an eyebrow.

Jason shrugs,"I'm an excellent actor."

"That I can believe." Reyna rolled her eyes.

He drops his gaze and looks out over the city again. She continues to look at him.

Maybe it's the beauty of the garden or the stillness of the night. Or maybe it's the boy sitting next to her. Looking like an angel with the wind running its fingers through his hair. But, for some reason, she suddenly feels very sorry that she did not accept his invitation to kiss her.

_You are so afraid of love._ She tells herself. _So afraid of getting hurt. He has not dated anyone_. _Maybe he si waiting for you_. _Maybe it's_ you _who has to make the first move. _

So she does.

Reyna leans in to passionately kiss his cheek. Jason turns to look at her at the same time.

Their lips touch for a split second. Reyna can swear an electric current sparks on her mouth and then passes through her whole body. Every single nerve tingles. She feels like someone has restarted her heart with a defibrillator.

Their noses slam into each other. Eyes watering, Reyna pulls away and gingerly touches her lips.

"I'm sorry." She murmurs softly.

Jason stares at her in shock, his hand touching his nose. She notices his eyes are watering in pain, too.

"No, no. I turned my head. It was, uh..."

"Maybe not the best idea." Reyna agrees and looks down in embarrassment.

"No. It, uh..." Jason stammers. "There was this... this tingling sort of feeling. It was neat."

"Oh," Reyna's heart skips a beat. "You felt it too?"

"Yeah it was like this electric... Sort of pulse I guess."

Reyna swallows hard. Her stomach churns uneasily.

"I was aiming for your cheek."

"Were you," Jason jokes. "Because it seemed like you wanted me to turn my head."

"Yes," Reyna pauses and teases with a smile. "I guess I'm just an excellent actor."

"Well that, I can believe." Jason agrees softly.

They both end up laughing.

This makes Reyna feel a little calmer about the whole situation. Even if there are butterflies still swirling around in her stomach.

She feels different now, though. That electric shock that jolted through her when their lips touched might as well have restarted her heart. The world seems smaller than it had when she woke up this morning. She feels lighter. Freer. But also a little sad.

Reyna expected the first time that a boy's lips touched hers it would be a deep and passionate kiss filled with fireworks and euphoria. Not an accidental and split second brush on her mouth. Reyna decides it didn't really count as a kiss anyway. Their lips only touched. There wasn't really any actual kissing involved.

"I should go. It's getting late."

Reyna stands up and calls for the dogs, who pick up their heads from underneath a nearby lavender bush. Standing up, they stretch their slender metal bodies and yawn widely. Then they wag their tails and happily trot up to her.

"Yeah, me too." Jason nods. He stands up and starts to walk with her out of the garden.

When they get to her house on the _via praetoria_, Jason walks her up to her door. Then he stops her.

"Reyna, I..."

"Yes?"

He hesitates and shakes his head, "Never mind. I just wanted to say that I'm glad I have you in my life. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"I'm glad you're in my life, too."

Jason shrugs and scuffs his shoe against the ground,"So... Do you still want that kiss?"

Reyna opens the door to her house and takes his hand in hers, stepping across the threshold. She turns to him and stands on the tips of her toes so they're nearly the same height.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stares deeply into his pretty blue eyes.

She smirks and presses her forehead to his.

Softly, Reyna whispers, "You'll never know."

She steps away from him and closes the door in his face, laughing as she does so.


End file.
